Читать книгу The Story of Jesus The Christ - Helen Braun Hojt - Страница 12

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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

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A CHILD’S 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 Herod’s 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.»