Was It A Star Or An Angel Guiding Magi To Bethlehem? -- Scholar- Sleuth Says Scripture, Tradition Shed Light On Theory Of Heavenly Being

It's one of the most vivid Christmas images - three Magi on camels traveling toward a bright star over Bethlehem.

The Gospel of Matthew sets the scene: "And lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was."

In some ancient icons, the star hovers a few feet above the Nativity scene, sometimes even marking the spot with a beam that resembles a miniature spotlight.

Clearly, this is a very strange star.

"The biblical text simply doesn't describe what we would call a star. It doesn't do what a star can do," said Dale Allison, author of a Bible Review treatise, "What Was the Star that Guided the Magi?"

"This star moves and guides people for a long time. It somehow draws near to Bethlehem and marks a specific place. . . . It must be said that a star cannot swoop down and do this. You can't take a gigantic bag of hot gas and move it anywhere near our planet without burning everything up."

But instead of junking the star of Bethlehem, Allison collects clues from centuries of Scripture, tradition and art and offers a solution to this mystery.

Simply stated: Perhaps the Bible doesn't describe a strange star, behaving in a strange manner. Perhaps this is an angel, behaving in a perfectly angelic manner.

It helps to look at other texts in addition to the Bible. One second-century nativity story says the star went before the Magi until it "stood over the head of the child." This suggests a small light or heavenly being.

Another reference in an ancient text called the Arabic Gospel is even more direct: "There appeared to (the magi) an angel in the form of that star which had before guided them on their journey; and they went away, following the guidance of its light, until they arrived in their own country."

Ancient writers never "imagined stars to be immense, inanimate, energetic masses millions of light-years away from, and thousands of times larger than our planet," writes Allison, who teaches at Friends University in Wichita, Kan.

"In antiquity, stars were widely thought to be living beings. . . . This idea - that the stars are angels - is either stated or implicit in dozens of texts. . . . Angels are not only guides. They are also, like stars, bright."

A biblical text in the book of Judges describes stars playing a role in a victory by Israel, and Job tells of a time when "the morning stars sang together." Numerous biblical texts describe angels serving as guides and appearing as lights, flames or even lightning.

And then there is "Lucifer" - the Latin word for "morningstar," noted Allison. The Bible calls Satan a fallen angel and many ancient texts describe his rebellion, and that of his evil hosts, as the falling of stars from heaven.

Commentators have for centuries suggested that the Christmas star was a planetary conjunction, a comet, a super nova or a new star.

In Matthew, the Magi say they have seen the Christ child's star "in the east, and have come to worship him."

The phrase "in the east," noted Allison, can be translated to say they saw the star "at its rising."

This might suggest a new phenomenon, but not a moving star that can pinpoint the manger bed of a newborn.

Then again, perhaps both images fit. Perhaps the Magi saw a star "at its rising" and, as they went to investigate, a bright angel led them to Bethlehem.

"People are going to read these texts in different ways," said Allison. "Here's the point: I think that if the Magi had followed a bright light to Bethlehem, they might have called it a star or they might have called it an angel. I don't think they would have made much of a distinction. Was it a star? They would say, `Yes.' Was it an angel? They would say, `Yes.' "