WHEN the wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, and enquired about the young King that had been born, it came to the ears of Herod, who was then ruling over the Jews, and Herod was greatly “troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” That which was good news to the shepherds, and Simeon, and Anna, and the wise men of the East, was no good news to Herod and the great men in Jerusalem. They were all troubled. Herod was a wicked man, and most of the great people in Jerusalem, though very religious, had no love for God, and now when God’s King was born they were all afraid.
And what did Herod do? Well, he gathered the chief priests and the scribes together, and asked where Christ should be born. These men, though their hearts may have been far from God, knew the Scriptures, and they showed King. Herod that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, according to the fifth chapter and second verse of Micah.
Then Herod secretly called the wise men of the East, and enquired when the star appeared, and then sent them to Bethlehem to search for the Child, and then bring him word, pretending that he, too, desired to worship the young King. But Herod had no love for God, nor for the young King God had sent. He thought if this Child became the King in Israel, he and his heirs could no longer reign there, and so instead of worshipping the Child, he purposed to kill Him. He did not tell this to the wise men, nor, perhaps, to anybody. No, he tried to deceive them by saying he wanted to worship Him. But he could not deceive God. God who searches the heart, knew what was in the heart of this wicked king, and God would take care of His Son, the young King which had just been born: So He warned the wise men, in a dream, not to return to Herod; and they returned to their on country another way.
Now God knew what Herod purposed to do, and He also sent His Angel to Joseph in a dream, telling him to arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till he received word again. So Joseph took the Child and His mother, and hurried away to Egypt in the night, to escape from. Herod; and he remained in Egypt till Herod died.
Herod was very angry because the wise men did not return, and bring him word of the Child. So he sent and killed all the children that were under two years old, in Bethlehem, and round about, so as to make sure to kill Jesus the young King. Thus he became a cruel murderer, causing “lamentation and weeping, and great mourning” among the mothers and fathers and friends of the little children he killed without cause. He would have murdered God’s Son, too, if he could, but God knew all about it, and took His Son out of the way. Poor, foolish, wicked Herod! what folly it was to try to frustrate God’s plans! He could not do it, and though he tried to do so, he only committed deeds that will fill him with awful remorse in the lake of fire.
In due time God saw to it that His Son was called out of Egypt, and brought into the land of Israel. They returned and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, and so Jesus grew up there, and was called a Nazarene. A. H. R.
ML 05/13/1900