A Star in the East........."?

Question

Ok - Matthew 2 starts out with - "magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem...." which would indicate that they traveled from the east of Jerusalem. Persia, India. etc....
Matthew 2:2 says - " For we (magi) saw His star in the east and we have come...."
So they were already East of Jerusalem and they say this star was to the East of them so the star was , like in China or something.
How did they go to Jerusalem which was WEST of them?

Answer 1

The astrologers that came to see Jesus at the time of his birth came from the direction of Babylon, from “eastern parts.” (Mt 2:1) When they said that they saw his star “in the east [Gr., a·na·to·lei′, literally, “rising”],” as some Bible translations state, they did not mean that it was E of where their land was but that they saw it from the East or when they were in the East.—Mt 2:2

Answer 2

Firstly from what I read, this journey would have been in the spring. The three stars are on Orion's Belt, and during Christmas they are below the sky line anyway. There is also a lot of other evidence to support this, the crops would not exist in the winter, they think this happened around March, from the physical descriptions on landscape in the passages. The reason Dec 25th was chosen was because of it's importance astrologically. It was originally a Pagan holiday. But the Winter Solstice, which is the shortest day is Dec 21st, then we have the three shortest days of the year in a row. Dec 25th is the date that the sun actually moves back to a spring orbit, bringing longer days with it.

Answer 3

Good question.

First the Maji were astrologers. They had pagan roots, and believed in pagan religion. When they eventually spoke to King Herod, we know nothing good came out of their visit.

This star may have been something other than just a literal object in the sky. Since Satan's goal is to disrupt Gods plan for people. That may be something for you to think about.

Unlike the Christmas story, i believe the gifts they gave to the baby Jesus were also used for funerals?

Answer 4

They went all the way round the earth - they were from the east but could have been travelling west. They had very fast camels that could swim vast distances.

Answer 5

Not to mention the fact that only stars to the north or south work for navigation sans a sextant - namely polaris and capella. everything else is useless because of the rising and setting of the celestial sphere.

Answer 6

One of many flaws in the writing's of passed down stories and superstitions.It is the same as a person who lies then doesn't remember saying it,because it never happen.

Answer 7

The star that they followed was really a UFO that they thought was a star.

Answer 8

maybe to help clarify....

we saw His star (when we were) in the east

Answer 9

It's the bible. It's baloney.