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alokmohan
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In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." Gospel of St Matthew<br /><br />What was it that summoned the Magi to make a long and dangerous journey to a foreign land? What was this star and its urgent message? The clues can be found in one of the Gospels and in other religious texts of the time that also describe the birth of Jesus as well as in the words of medieval monks and astronomers. Two thousand years ago only the Wise Men saw it, but if you solve the clues then anyone with a computer and a simple starmap program can witness the Star of Bethlehem.<br /><br />The Star is only mentioned in the Gospel of St Matthew, though the Gospel of St Luke also gives an account of the birth of Christ. Why is there is no mention of the star in Luke? Although Mark is the earliest Gospel and provides much of the material for both Matthew and Luke, depicting Jesus as a man and the son of God, it is Matthew's Gospel – with the aim of proclaiming Jesus as the fulfilment of ancient prophecy – that is taken as the first one because it provides a bridge between the Old and New testaments.<br /><br />But the Star is not only mentioned in the Bible. There is a non-biblical text of the time called the Protoevangelium of St James. In it the description of the star is very different; "And the wise men said; 'We saw how an indescribably greater star shone among these stars and dimmed them so that they no longer shone.' "<br /><br />The explanation for the difference may lie with the need for the writer of the Protoevangelium to associate the Messiah with a great star. For centuries rebel leaders and self-proclaimed Messiahs were said to have their own star signifying divine approval. In the second century AD, for example, the rabbi Aquiba proclaimed Simeon Bar Kosba as the Messiah. Kosba th