Hezekiah

Hezekiah is an old man of Bethlehem who preaches in the street about the coming Messiah, a King he has waited his whole life to see. While others dismiss the signs, he alone grasps what the strange star blazing over the town foretells: the promised King is coming not to Jerusalem but to little Bethlehem, and he will come as a servant. Fervent and unshakable in his faith, he is certain that Mary is the promised virgin bearing Immanuel, and he sets about preparing carved wooden animals as gifts fit for a king. His boldness draws the anger of Roman soldiers, but Connie shields him from a drawn sword, and he in turn presses the skeptical Eugene toward belief, teaching him that prayer is a matter of faith, not theory.