The Wise Men

We read about the wise men who came from the East. We don't know if they were three. The Bible just says "wise men". We learned that they must have felt very excited as they followed the star to the place where the "King of the Jews" was born. They knew he was supposed to be a very special king. How disappointed they must have been to find out that no one knew about his birth, not even Herod, the present king. When Herod found out from the chief priests and scribes that a king was really supposed to be born in Bethlehem, he was "troubled". He didn't want this special king to take his place!

We learned that in those days God sometimes gave revelations to all, Jews and non-Jews. Many years before, when Abraham, fearing for his life, told everyone in Egypt that his beautiful wife Sarah was his sister, God spoke to Pharaoh in a dream telling him not to take her as his wife. In this case, God led the wise men by a star to the place where Jesus was born, and then he warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

Next week we will see what Herod did.

For memorization, we are learning question 60 from the Heidelberg Catechism.