called by the glorious name of Israel! From all over the country the
men of Israel would rise up. They would come when their king called
them, and he would lead them to victory against Caesar. The Romans
would go back where they came from, and Israel would be free and
peaceful and rich and happy again. The Messiah would make Israel into
a great kingdom, bigger and more powerful than the Roman Empire ever
was. The Jews would rule the world. Everyone, everywhere, would
worship the God of Israel, and the Messiah would be King of all the
nations of the earth. If only he would come!

[Illustration]

It was hard to wait so long. They had waited for him a long time, and
their fathers and grandfathers had waited for him too. Sometimes word
would go around that he had finally arrived, and in great excitement
some of the Jews would get ready to drive the Romans out of Palestine.
But always it turned out to be a mistake, and the Jews would be
disappointed, and shake their heads, and say, "Will he ever come?"

But when they grew discouraged, they would remember what was written
in their Holy Scriptures. For it was surely written there that the
Messiah would come someday. There could be no mistake about it.
Someday he would come!

[Illustration]

And so it went on, month after month, year after year. The people
worked, and dreamed, and hoped, and prayed. The rains would fall in
October and soften the hard, dry ground after the heat of summer, so
that the farmer could do his plowing. And as he plowed the land, the
farmer thought about the Messiah, and wondered if he would come before
the harvest in the spring. Then spring would come, and the wheat and
barley would be growing up in the smiling fields, and all down the
hillside the grapevines and the olive trees would be full of fruit.
The Romans were still marching through the country, and still there
was no Messiah. But the farmer thought that maybe he would come before
the next fall rains.

The fisherman would go sailing across the deep-blue Sea of Galilee,
and while he waited for the fish to come into his net, he thought of
how long Israel had waited for the Messiah to come. The beggars in the
city streets, who were deaf, or blind, or crippled, would sit at the
corners and ask for money to buy food. They were wondering too if the
Messiah would ever come and help the poor folk of Israel.

The shepherds, out on the rocky hills where nothing would grow but
grass for sheep and