Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Messiah Saviour of the Nations. The Israelites leave Egypt and camp in the step-land of Moab. The King of Moab questions one of his prophets a pagan, a «false prophet», as he is called in the Old Testament, who announces: «I see him but not in the present. I perceive him, but not close at hand: a star is emerging from Jacob, a sceptre is rising from Israel» (Numbers 24, 17).
«Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Juda, at the time of King Herod. After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, suddenly some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east asking, 'Where is the infant king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.… Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared and sent them on to Bethlehem… Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And suddenly the star they had seen rising went forward and halted over the place where the child was… The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage» (Mathew 2, 1-2, 7-8a, 9-11). (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/12/2006, righe 13, parole 213)
