First Evening with the Jesse Tree

Here is a brief retelling of the story from Scripture which gives the Jesse Tree its name. (In Star of Wonder, the young shepherd is named Jesse, just like the keeper of sheep from ancient times, although they are not related.) This is what you will read when you first plant your Jesse Tree and light the candle:

This is a story of Jesus' family tree. Long ago, the prophet Isaiah told the ancient Hebrew people that a new branch would grow from an old tree stump. Isaiah said that this new branch, this new life, would come from the family of Jesse, a farmer and keeper of sheep who lived near Bethlehem. David, Israel's most famous king, was Jesse's youngest son, and Jesus was born hundreds of years later into David's family of descendants. Isaiah wrote:
          A shoot will spring from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.