Epiphany - The Three Wise Men and King Herod

The Magi and Herod

Here's a happy and blessed New Year to Everyone!

After the birth of Jesus, three wise men or Magi from the East, led by a star, came looking for the "king of the Jews" which angered Herod.

A happy and blessed New Year to everyone!

Known as Epiphany, celebrated on January 6, it is the Christian festival commemorating  the showing of the infant Christ child to the Magi. So the Bible tells us that the three wise men or Magi from Eastern lands were led by a star to Jerusalem in search for the baby Jesus. It was during the last months of King Herod's bloody reign that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

According to the gospels, the three wise men asked Herod where "the king of the Jews" was to be born. The Magi acknowledged publicly the baby Jesus as the Messiah and Herod was afraid of such threat to him as the king of Judea and Samaria.

Herod acted swiftly to destroy any possible rival, so he ordered the death of all the male children up to two years old in the entire area of Bethlehem. The star that led the wise men went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. They went into the stable and saw the child, with Mary his mother and Joseph his father. The wise men worshipped him and offered their gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.

When the three Magi left, they went another way as they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.

Image Credit:
The Three Kings. Prepared for Mass.  Accessed January 6, 2014. (Image added 2 years after the original post was published.)