By Ed Downs

No, there is no mistake in titling this column in the plural, that is to say “stars” as opposed to “star.” To be sure, the “Star of Bethlehem” is a cherished part of the Christmas tradition, as are the Three Wise Men.  These three searchers are said to have used that star to guide them in their search for the Savior.  Biblical historians have long argued as to who these “Wise Men” might have been and how it was that they, presumed to be of Babylonian origins, would have known about Hebrew prophesies of a coming of a Savior.  Some have guessed that these “scholars” may have been what we would today call astrologers, a possibility often shunned by those who think of astrology as a superstitious form of divination.