What was the star?

Matthew tells what the star did, not what it was. The wise men say, "we saw his star in the east" (2:2). Herod "learned from them exactly what time the star appeared" (2:7). Then "the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was" (2:9), and "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy" (2:10) (tap star). Matthew calls it his star and says no more about it, and these notes don't either. Two nearby questions are asked elsewhere in Favor, and not again here: whether Balaam's "A star will come out of Jacob" (Numbers 24:17) is about Jesus, where the chapter on Numbers 24 lays out three readings and chooses none; and whether Psalm 72's kings who "offer gifts" are the wise men, which the chapter on Psalm 72 takes up, noting that Matthew names neither the psalm nor Isaiah 60:6.