should go to honor him.
So, although they lived a long way from Palestine, they took
splendid gifts in their hands and went to find the king. They
followed the star until they came to Jerusalem, where Herod
the king lived. They were sure that a king would be found in a
kings house, so they went to Herods palace and asked him :
44 Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen
his star in the East, and have come to worship him.»
Herod could not answer them. If he had ever heard of the
birth of Jesus, it had not interested him enough to make him
remember it. But he called together the learned Jews, and asked
them where they expected the Christ to be born. They told him
that the prophets had said that he should be born in the little
town of Bethlehem.
After Herod had found out all he could about the child, he
called the wise men and asked them how long it had been since
TIIE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST
15
they first saw the star. He wanted to know bow old the child
was. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying to them, u Go
and look carefully for the child, and when you have found him
bring me back word where he is, that I may go and worship
him also.»
The wise men then left Herod and went to Bethlehem, follow¬
ing the star until they came
to the house where Jesus
was. And when they had
come into the house they
saw the child with Mary
his mother, and they fell
down and worshipped him.
And when they had opened
their treasures they gave
him their gifts: gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
Frankincense and myrrh
are costly perfumes.
This is the first time
that any child ever had a
Christmas present. And
when Christmas conies
round year after year bring¬
ing with it gifts from those
who love us, we will re¬
member this story, will we
not? And we will think
with love of the little child whose birth we celebrate on Christ¬
mas Day.
After giving Jesus their presents, the wise men started home
again. But they did not go back to tell Herod where they had
The Three Wise Men
16
A CHILDS STORY OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST
found the child, for God had told them in a dream that Herod
did not mean what he said, that he did not want to worship
Jesus, but to kill him. So they went home another way.
When Herod had heard the strangers asking him where the; y
could find the King of the Jews he had been greatly interested,
and a good deal worried. He was afraid that he would have more
trouble than ever with the Jews if they had a king of their own
So he, too, wanted to find the child. He had expected the wise
men to tell him when they went back to Jerusalem just where
he could be found, and there would be no more trouble after that,
But the wise men did not come back to tell him. He waited
and waited, till at last he found that they had gone to theit
homes without seeing him again. Herod was very angry wheri
he heard this. I must find the child,» he said; it will not do
to let him live to be king.» One of his plans had failed, but h. <t
thought of another.
He did not know how old the child king was, but he watf
sure that he could not be more than two years old. So, as ho
did not know where to find him, he sent his soldiers to kill eveiy
boy in Bethlehem that was two years old, or younger. (The
word child in our Bibles really means boys; Herod did not
need to kill girls in order to be sure of killing Jesus.) The
soldiers did as they were told, and there were many sad home /
in Bethlehem that day. This sounds even more cruel than it
really was, for Bethlehem was a very small town, and there were
probably not more than twenty or thirty boys there.
But even this plan of Herods failed to harm the child Jesus.
For on the night after the wise men had started for their homes,
an angel of the Lord said to Joseph in a dream, Take the child
and his mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring
you word; for Herod will look for the young child to destroy
him.»
THE BIRTH OF THE CHRIST
17
So Joseph took the child and his mother that very night,
and left Bethlehem to do as the angel had told him. In
Egypt they were safe, for
Herod had no power there,
and could not touch them,
even if he had been able to
find out that they had gone
there. Probably he never
knew that he had not killed
the boy king when he sent
his soldiers to the city where
he had been born.
They lived in Egypt till
the wicked king Herod died.
We do not know what they
did there, or where they
stayed, although many sto¬
ries are told about them.
They probably lived very
quietly.
After the death of Herod
Joseph dreamed again, and
again the angel came to him,
saying, Rise, take the child
and his mother, and go back
to your own land; for they are dead who sought to kill the child.»
Joseph obeyed this dream as he had the other.
But they did not go to Bethlehem to live; for they heard that,
although the king Herod was dead, yet his son Archelaus, who was
ruler there now, was a very wicked man. They went to Nazareth,
the early home of Joseph and Mary. There Jesus lived all the
years of his childhood, and all but three years of his whole life.
Flight into Egypt
THE BOYHOOD OF THE CHRIST
We do not know much about him when he was a boy. The
Bible says that he was filled with wisdom/ and that he was in
favor with God and man.» We know by this that he was a good
boy, and was loved by every one who knew him.
The people in Nazareth were not thought to be very good,
and sometimes, when Jesus was older, he was looked down
upon because he had once lived in Nazareth. But if the people
were not good the country
was beautiful. Jesus proba¬
bly went to school with
the other Jewish boys, and
studied Jewish history and
law, from the books of the
Bible. We can also think
of him as playing and work¬
ing in his fathers carpen¬
ters shop, and with his
mother in the house.
He learned, too, from
other teachers than books.
The mountains and lakes,
the birds and flowers, the
storms, the sunshine, and
indeed everything he saw
or heard, had lessons for
him which he was happy in
learning.
This was how he became
filled with wisdom; because he saw something to learn in every¬
thing about him, and was willing to try to learn the lesson.
18
Infancy of Christ