262 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

because of the birth of a peasant child at Bethlehem? Does
it not seem very stranger—a King on his throne trembling
at a little child in a cradle! Herod had led a cruel, wicked,
ungodly life. He was now old, and miserable, and savage.
He had been remorselessly cruel in his day, and cruel men
are often the greatest of cowards. So it was with Herod.
He felt as if his throne was trembling beneath him; his fears
became incarnate; his guilty conscience and his coward heart
made his life a living terror, a ceaseless dread!

Moreover, there had been a great deal of talk all over
Palestine, and in regions far beyond, of the coming of some
great one who should redeem the people from bondage, and
bring in the reign of truth, and righteousness, and peace.
Fishermen on the shores of Tiberias; shepherds on the hills
of Galilee; women by the fountains of Judea and the wells
of Samaria, and devout men and women in Jerusalem, who
were waiting and watching like Simeon in the Temple and
Nathaniel under his fig trees—for ‘the consolation of
Israel.” All were talking of “the coming one.” The world
was waiting and hoping for a King who should reign, not
by mere might or force; not by banners and sword, but by
truth, and righteousness, and love. It was when this talk
was on every lip, and expectation was on tip-toe, that the
Wise Men came and startled the King on his throne, and all
the people in the city, with their strange question: ‘‘ Where
is he that is born King of the Jews?” Was the King and
his Kingdom at hand? Had the desire of all nations really
appeared?

Jerusalem was roused as from a long, deep, sinful sleep;
the tottering coward-King called a convention of chief priests
and scribes, and leaders of the people, and demanded that
they should tell him where this King, Christ, was to be