I am looking for a place where I can ask questions and someone of authority would answer. Do you know of such an email group? An example of such a question would be the wise men saw an Eastern Star and they knew the Lord had been born. How did they know? How many years did that star shine? Carl Martin, Humble, Texas
The only religious authority is the Bible itself. No person can speak authoritatively about religion beyond what the inspired Word of God reveals (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). What the Bible reveals, we can know; what the Bible does not reveal, we cannot know (Deuteronomy 29:29). Surely, God has revealed to mankind everything religiously that He wants mankind to have; surely, God has preserved everything religiously that He wants mankind to have.
That being said, the Bible does not specifically record how that the wisemen knew that a special starry phenomenon that they observed indicated the birth of the Lord. In addition, the Bible does not specify for how long this special star shone.
The best one can do regarding these questions is to attempt to deduce some relative or possible answers. Any plausible answers, though not definitive, preclude dismissal of the event.
Though there had been silence from God for about 400 years since the close of the Old Testament, the New Testament opens with several divine revelations to various individuals: Zacharias (Luke 1:5-20); Mary, mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-37), Joseph (Matthew 1:20-23), shepherds (Luke 2:8-14), the prophet Simeon (Luke 2:25-26) and the prophetess Anna (Luke 2:36-38). It is reasonable to conclude that divine revelation may have informed the wisemen about the significance of the unusual star.
Regarding how long the star shone, if the wisemen traveled from Gentile lands far to the east as is supposed because of the location of population centers east of Palestine and the descriptions of the wisemen, the star had to shine a sufficient long time to lead them from where their journey began to where Jesus was (i.e., in a house, Matthew 2:11). Weeks to months would be involved since the time about which they inquired was the birth of Jesus, but by the time of their arrival, the 40 days of Mary’s purification were fulfilled (Leviticus 12:2-6) and the family was no longer lodged in the temporary, makeshift abode of a stable, but they were in a house. The age span of children (up to two-years-old, Matthew 2:16) that King Herod ordered slaughtered in his attempt to kill Jesus also suggests that several months were involved between the time the wisemen began following the star and their arrival in Jesus’ presence (i.e., if they began following the star before or soon after the birth of Jesus).
