Michael Molnar believes the "Wise Men from the East" who came to worship the newborn Jesus in the account of the Gospel-writer Matthew, were actually responding to what they thought was a powerful astrological sign portending the birth of a very great, perhaps immortal, king in Judea.

Rather than the bright celestial object depicted on zillions of Christmas cards, Molnar thinks such an astrological sign would have caused the "Wise Men" to go first to Jerusalem, then to Bethlehem, on the night of April 17 in the year 6 B.C.

Molnar's theory has excited astronomers, who have for many years speculated that the guiding star was a supernova or a triple conjunction of planets, or maybe even an appearance of Halley's comet.

"Molnar has found the star of Bethlehem. I believe him and I'm embarrassed," said Yale University astronomer Bradley Schaefer. "This material has been around for centuries, and no one looked at it until now."

The new explanation, Schaefer says, accommodates "the entire spectrum" of belief. People who would take the biblical account almost literally can read validation of the story of the three wise men in Molnar's theory. Skeptics might believe the Gospel of Matthew was rewritten a century of more after Jesus' birth to include the story of the wise men on the basis of known astrological history.

Molnar, who has a doctorate in astronomy but currently works as a Rutgers computer programmer, presented his theory to the astronomy department of Harvard University on Thursday. He describes it in the new book, The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi (Rutgers University Press).

Molnar says he was led to his theory by an ancient coin.

Biblical scholars are unsure about the historical date of Jesus' birth, but it almost certainly was not on the night of December 24-25, 1,999 years ago. December 25 was originally a pagan holiday that early Christians co-opted. Comparisons of the biblical account with Roman records suggest Jesus was born several years earlier.

Astrology and the ancients:
Jack Dean Kinsbury, professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, said many scholars think the true date was sometime in 5 or 6 B.C.

Matthew's Gospel states:

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men form the East came to Jerusalem saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.'

"When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.' . . .

"Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, 'Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him bring me work that I too may come and worship him.'

"When they had heard the king they went their way; and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where he was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they found the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him."

Molnar, a coin collector who specializes in ancient coins with astronomy themes, said that several years ago he bought a bronze Roman coin, dated around 13 A.D., at a coin show. One side bore the image of Jupiter, the pre-eminent god of the Roman pantheon. The other side had an astrological sign, the ram of Aries, looking at a star.

Researching the history of his new coin, Molnar learned it was struck in the Roman city of Antioch, today a part of Turkey, to commemorate the Romans' annexation of Judea. The sign of Aries represented Judea, Molnar said he learned.

This connection was Molnar's first clue. Previously, historians have believed the zodiacal sign for Judea was Pisces. Molnar said he traced this belief back to the Renaissance, but ancient writings state specifically that the sign for Judea was Aries.

Fascinated by this discovery, Molnar dug further into ancient astrology.

"This was a highly respected subject by people in those days, the Romans, the Greeks and others," he said. "Astrologers were the scientists of their day."

Yet, they may have seldom looked at the sky, Molnar believes. Instead, they studied their charts to follow the planets migrating through the heavens along paths plotted over the centuries.

Those charts would have shown that in the spring of the year 6 B.C., the planet Jupiter was the regal star, and its proximity with the moon would have signaled a royal birth, Molnar says.

Using his personal computer, Molnar determined that, at the time, both Jupiter and the moon were between the Earth and the constellation Aries, suggesting that the expected birth would be in Judea.

But the signs were even stronger. Jupiter was actually eclipsed by the moon on two dates, March 20 and April 17, in 6 B.C., he said. Adding to the power of the astrological event was the fact that the sun was also in the constellation Aries.

Returning to the computer, he searched for a time when Jupiter was shining as a morning star — in the east.

"To you and me, that doesn't mean much," he said, "but 2,000 years ago, it meant it was the most powerful time for a star. In those days, it was big news."