The wise men traveled to Jerusalem and began asking the people where they might find the newborn king of the Jews. Read about this from the Bible in Matthew 2:1-8.

The wise men traveled to Jerusalem and began asking the people where they might find the newborn king of the Jews. Read about this from the Bible in Matthew 2:1-8.

The wise men had traveled hundreds of miles across rugged country to the land of Judea. They eventually arrived in Jerusalem, the capitol city of the Jewish people where they asked where they might find the young king.

It didn’t take long for the power hungry King Herod to hear about these unusual visitors. He felt threatened with the very idea that a new king had been born. He called a meeting with the chief priests and the teachers of the law to learn where the promised king was to be born. They responded with a quote from the prophet Micah that the ruler would come out of Bethlehem in Judea.

King Herod sent word to the wise men and arranged to meet with them in secret. He asked them to search for the new king and then come back and tell him where he was so that he too might go and worship the child.

But it wasn’t worship that King Herod had in mind for the new king. King Herod was a very jealous man who had already killed his own sons because he considered them a threat to his throne.

For younger children The First Christmas, by Janice D. Green, illustrated by Violet Vandor.