star-of-Bethlehem

star-of-Bethlehem in botany, low, spring-blooming bulbous plant ( Ornithogalum umbellatum ) of the family Liliaceae ( lily family), native to the Mediterranean region but naturalized in North America and cultivated in gardens. The plant has rather stiff, grasslike leaves and a cluster of white star-shaped flowers marked on the back with green. It spreads easily and tends to become weedy. Although the fresh plant is poisonous, the bulbs have been prepared and used as food in the Old World. The flower has been associated with the star that guided the Wise Men to the manger (see Star of Bethlehem ). The star-of-Bethlehem is classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Liliopsida, order Liliales, family Liliaceae.

Star of Beth·le·hem • n. a resplendent star that is said to have guided the Magi to the birthplace of the infant Jesus.

star of Bethlehem The star which led the Magi or Wise Men to Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus (Matt. 2: 1–12). In so far as the story has any basis in historical fact, the ‘star’ is more likely to have been a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in 7 CE, which could have alerted astrologers (‘magi’ has this meaning in Greek) to an important event. It is, however, strange that the Magi should only have travelled under the stars by night over such country; if they were indeed being led, it is odd that they needed to ask the way at the court of King Herod (Matt. 2: 2). It is better to regard Matt.'s narrative as a midrash based on the reference to a star in Num. 24: 17 and to the coming of Gentiles to Jerusalem in Isa. 60: 3.

In that case the story is an expression of the universal salvation offered by Christ, proclaimed also at the end of the gospel (Matt. 28: 19). It could also be Matt.'s way of showing that the superstitious arts of astrologers yield to the truth and rationality of Christianity, which Luke has demonstrated by his account of the burning of magical books by converts at Ephesus (Acts 19: 19).