on
warrants.

The purpose of the Bible is to reveal God to us, and to teach us of our
relationship to Him. It was not intended to gratify that natural and
laudable curiosity which has been the foundation of the physical
sciences. Our own efforts, our own intelligence can help us here, and
the Scriptures have not been given us in order to save us the trouble of
exerting them.

There is no reason for surprise, then, that the information given us
concerning the star is, astronomically, so imperfect. We are, indeed,
told but two facts concerning it. First that its appearance, in some way
or other, informed the wise men, not of the birth of _a_ king of the
Jews, but of _the_ King of the Jews, for Whose coming not Israel only,
but more or less consciously the whole civilized world, was waiting.
Next, having come to Judaea in consequence of this information, the
"star" pointed out to them the actual spot where the new-born King was
to be found. "It went before them till it came and stood over where the
young Child was." It may also be inferred from Matt. ii. 10 that in some
way or other the wise men had for a time lost sight of the star, so that
the two facts mentioned of it relate to two separate appearances. The
first appearance induced them to leave the East, and set out for Judaea;
the second pointed out to them the place at Bethlehem where the object
of their search was to be found. Nothing is told us respecting the star
except its work as a guide.

Some three centuries ago the ingenious and devout Kepler supposed that
he could identify the Star with a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and
Saturn, in the constellation Pisces. This conjunction took place in the
month of May, B.C. 7, not very long before the birth of our Lord is
supposed to have taken place.

But the late Prof. C. Pritchard has shown, first, that a similar and
closer conjunction occurred 59 years earlier, and should therefore have
brought a Magian deputation to Judaea then. Next, that the two planets
never approached each other nearer than twice the apparent diameter of
the moon, so that they would have appeared, not as one star, but as two.
And thirdly, if the planets had seemed to stand over Bethlehem as the
wise men left Jerusalem, they most assuredly would not have appeared to
do so when they arrived at the little city. Ingenious as the suggestion
was, it may be dismissed as unworthy of serious consideration.

Another suggestion shows upon what s