August 12, 2026 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, August 12.
We’ll be climbing close to triple digits today, here in the heart and the heat of the summer. So lets cool off with a Christmas themed daily devotion. On August 12 in the year 2 BC, the nght sky featured a conjunction of the planets Saturn and Venus. A conjunction is when two planets appear very close to each other, combining to make one very bright light. Some theologians (and astronomers) offer this phenomenon as a possible source of the Star of Bethlehem.
This famous star is mentioned only in Matthew 2, where we also meet those mysterious figures called the Magi, a highly educated and highly respected group originating in Persia a thousand years before Bethlehem. Today, astrology and astronomy are two very different pursuits, but in the ancient world they were fused into one. The Magi reguarly searched the skies, and anything unusual would catch their attention and often be seen as an omen or a prophecy.
A prophecy is found in the Old Testament book of Numbers (24:17) - “a star shall come out of Jacob”. And then Matthew brings it full circle with these words - “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him!”.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
