Luke 2:41

We have here the only passage of story recorded concerning our blessed Saviour, from his infancy to the day of his showing to Israel at twenty-nine years old, and therefore we are concerned to make much of this, for it is in vain to wish we had more. Here is,

I. Christ's going up with his parents to Jerusalem, at the feast of the passover, Luk 2:41, Luk 2:42. 1. It was their constant practice to attend there, according to the law, though it was a long journey, and they were poor, and perhaps not well able, without straitening themselves, to bear the expenses of it. Note, Public ordinances must be frequented, and we must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. Worldly business must give way to spiritual concerns. Joseph and Mary had a son in the house with them, that was able to teach them better than all the rabbin at Jerusalem; yet they went up thither, after the custom of the feast. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and so should we. We have reason to suppose that Joseph went up likewise at the feasts of pentecost and tabernacles; for all the males were to appear there thrice a year, but Mary only at the passover, which was the greatest of the three feasts, and had most gospel in it. 2. The child Jesus, at twelve years old, went up with them. The Jewish doctors say that at twelve years old children must begin to fast from time to time, that they may learn to fast on the day of atonement; and that at thirteen years old a child begins to be a son of the commandment, that is, obliged to the duties of adult church-membership, having been from his infancy, by virtue of his circumcision, a son of the covenant. It is not said that this was the first time that Jesus went up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast: probably he had done it for some years before, having spirit and wisdom above his years; and all should attend on public worship that can hear with understanding, Neh 8:2. Those children that are forward in other things should be put forward in religion. It is for the honour of Christ that children should attend on public worship, and he is pleased with their hosannas; and those children that were in their infancy dedicated to God should be called upon, when they are grown up, to come to the gospel passover, to the Lord's supper, that they make it their own act and deed to join themselves to the Lord.

II. Christ's tarrying behind his parents at Jerusalem, unknown to them, in which he designed to give an early specimen of what he was reserved for.

1. His parents did not return till they had fulfilled the days; they had staid there all the seven days at the feast, though it was not absolutely necessary that they should stay longer than the two first days, after which many went home. Note, It is good to stay to the conclusion of an ordinance, as becomes those who say, It is good to be here, and not to hasten away, as if we were like Doeg, detained before the Lord.

2. The child tarried behind in Jerusalem, not because he was loth to go home, or shy of his parents' company, but because he had business to do there, and would let his parents know that he had a Father in heaven, whom he was to be observant of more than of them; and respect to him must not be construed disrespect to them. Some conjecture that he tarried behind in the temple, for it was the custom of the pious Jews, on the morning that they were to go home, to go first to the temple, to worship God; there he staid behind, and found entertainment there till they found him again. Or, perhaps, he staid at the house where they lodged, or some other friend's house (and such a child as he was could not but be the darling of all that knew him, and every one would court his company), and went up to the temple only at church-time; but so it was that he staid behind. It is good to see young people willing to dwell in the house of the Lord; they are then like Christ.

3. His parents went the first day's journey without any suspicion that he was left behind, for they supposed him to have been in the company, Luk 2:44. On these occasions, the crowd was very great, especially the first day's journey, and the roads full of people; and they concluded that he came along with some of their neighbours, and they sought him among their kindred and acquaintance, that were upon the road, going down. Pray did you see our Son? or, Did you see him? Like the spouses's inquiry, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? This was a jewel worth seeking after. They knew that every one would be desirous of his company, and that he would be willing to do good among his kinsfolk and acquaintance, but among them they found him not, Luk 2:45. There are many, too many, who are our kinsfolk and acquaintance, that we cannot avoid conversing with, among whom we find little or nothing of Christ. When they could not hear of him in this and the other company upon the road, yet they hoped they should meet with him at the place where they lodged that night; but there they could learn no tidings of him. Compare this with Job 23:8, Job 23:9.

4. When they found him not at their quarters at night, they turned back again, next morning, to Jerusalem, seeking him. Note, Those that would find Christ must seek till they find; for he will at length be found of those that seek him, and will be found their bountiful rewarder. Those that have lost their comforts in Christ, and the evidences of their interest in him, must bethink themselves where, and when, and how, they lost them, and must turn back again to the place where they last had them; must remember whence they are fallen, and repent, and do their first works, and return to their first love, Rev 2:4, Rev 2:5. Those that would recover their lost acquaintance with Christ must go to Jerusalem, the city of our solemnities, the place which he has chosen to put his name there; must attend upon him in his ordinances, in the gospel-passover, there they may hope to meet him.

5. The third day they found him in the temple, in some of the apartments belonging to the temple, where the doctors of the law kept, not their courts, but their conferences rather, or their schools for disputation; and there they found him sitting in the midst of them (Luk 2:46), not standing as a catechumen to be examined or instructed by them, for he had discovered such measures of knowledge and wisdom that they admitted him to sit among them as a fellow or member of their society. This is an instance, not only that he was filled with wisdom (Luk 2:40), but that he had both a desire to increase it and a readiness to communicate it; and herein he is an example to children and young people, who should learn of Christ to delight in the company of those they may get good by, and choose to sit in the midst of the doctors rather than in the midst of the players. Let them begin at twelve years old, and sooner, to enquire after knowledge, and to associate with those that are able to instruct them; it is a hopeful and promising presage in youth to be desirous of instruction. Many a youth at Christ's age now would have been playing with the children in the temple, but he was sitting with the doctors in the temple. (1.) He heard them. Those that would learn must be swift to hear. (2.) He asked them questions; whether, as a teacher (he had authority so to ask) or as a learner (he had humility so to ask) I know not, or whether as an associate, or joint-searcher after truth, which must be found out by mutual amicable disquisitions. (3.) He returned answers to them, which were very surprising and satisfactory, Luk 2:47. And his wisdom and understanding appeared as much in the questions he asked as in the answers he gave, so that all who heard him were astonished: they never heard one so young, no indeed any of their greatest doctors, talk sense at the rate that he did; like David, he had more understanding than all his teachers, yea, than the ancients, Psa 119:99, Psa 119:100. Now Christ showed forth some rays of his glory, which were presently drawn in again. He gave them a taste (says Calvin) of his divine wisdom and knowledge. Methinks this public appearance of Christ in the temple, as a teacher, was like Moses's early attempt to deliver Israel, which Stephen put this construction upon, that he supposed his brethren would have understood, by that, how God by his hand would deliver them, Act 7:24, Act 7:25. They might have taken the hint, and been delivered then, but they understood not; so they here might have had Christ (for aught I know) to enter upon his work now, but they were only astonished, and understood not the indication; and therefore, like Moses, he retires into obscurity again, and they hear no more of him for many years after.

6. His mother talked with him privately about it. When the company broke up, she took him aside, and examined him about it with a deal of tenderness and affection, Luk 2:48. Joseph and Mary were both amazed to find him there, and to find that he had so much respect showed him as to be admitted to sit among the doctors, and to be taken notice of. His father knew he had only the name of a father, and therefore said nothing. But, (1.) His mother told him how ill they took it: "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Why didst thou put us into such a fright?" They were ready to say, as Jacob of Joseph, "A wild beast has devoured him; or, He is fallen into the hands of some more cruel enemy, who has at length found out that he was the young child whose life Herod had sought some years ago." A thousand imaginations, we may suppose, they had concerning him, each more frightful than another. "Now, why hast thou given us occasion for these fears? Thy father and I have sought thee, sorrowing; not only troubled that we lost thee, but vexed at ourselves that we did not take more care of thee, to bring thee along with us." Note, Those may have leave to complain of their losses that think they have lost Christ. But their weeping did not hinder sowing; they did not sorrow and sit down in despair, but sorrowed and sought. Note, If we would find Christ, we must seek him sorrowing, sorrowing that we have lost him, that we have provoked him to withdraw, and that we have sought him no sooner. They that thus seek him in sorrow shall find him, at length, with so much the greater joy. (2.) He gently reproved their inordinate solicitude about him (Luk 2:49): "How is it that you sought me? You might have depended upon it, I would have followed you home when I had done the business I had to do here. I could not be lost in Jerusalem. Wist ye not that I ought to be, en tois tou patros mou; - in my Father's house?" so some read it; "where else should the Son be, who abideth in the house for ever? I ought to be," [1.] "Under my Father's care and protection; and therefore you should have cast the care of me upon him, and not have burdened yourselves with it." Christ is a shaft hid in his Father's quiver, Isa 49:2. He takes care of his church likewise, and therefore let us never despair of its safety. [2.] "At my Father's work" (so we take it): "I must be about my Father's business, and therefore could not go home as soon as you might. Wist ye not? Have you not already perceived that concerning me, that I have devoted myself to the service of religion, and therefore must employ myself in the affairs of it?" Herein he hath left us an example; for it becomes the children of God, in conformity to Christ, to attend their heavenly Father's business, and to make all other business give way to it. This word of Christ we now think we understand very well, for he hath explained it in what he hath done and said. It was his errand into the world, and his meat and drink in the world, to do his Father's will, and finish his work: and yet at that time his parents understood not this saying, Luk 2:50. They did not understand what business he had to do then in the temple for his Father. They believed him to be the Messiah, that should have the throne of his father David; but they thought that should rather bring him to the royal palace than to the temple. They understood not his prophetical office; and he was to do much of his work in that.

Lastly, Here is their return to Nazareth. This glimpse of his glory was to be short. It was now over, and he did not urge his parents either to come and settle at Jerusalem or to settle him there (though that was the place of improvement and preferment, and where he might have the best opportunities of showing his wisdom), but very willingly retired into his obscurity at Nazareth, where for many years he was, as it were, buried alive. Doubtless, he came up to Jerusalem, to worship at the feast, three times a year, but whether he ever went again into the temple, to dispute with the doctors there, we are not told; it is not improbable but he might. But here we are told,

1. That he was subject to his parents. Though once, to show that he was more than a man, he withdrew himself from his parents, to attend his heavenly Father's business, yet he did not, as yet, make that his constant practice, nor for many years after, but was subject to them, observed their order, and went and came as they directed, and, as it should seem, worked with his father at the trade of a carpenter. Herein he hath given an example to children to be dutiful and obedient to their parents in the Lord. Being made of a woman, he was made under the law of the fifth commandment, to teach the seed of the faithful thus to approve themselves to him a faithful seed. Though his parents were poor and mean, though his father was only his supposed father, yet he was subject to them; though he was strong in spirit, and filled with wisdom nay though he was the Son of God, yet he was subject to his parents; how then will they answer it who, though foolish and weak, yet are disobedient to their parents?

2. That his mother, though she did not perfectly understand her son's sayings, yet kept them in her heart, expecting that hereafter they would be explained to her, and she should fully understand them, and know how to make use of them. However we may neglect men's sayings because they are obscure (Si non vis intelligi debes negligi - If it be not intelligible, it is not valuable), yet we must not think so of God's sayings. That which at first is dark, so that we know not what to make of it, may afterwards become plain and easy; we should therefore lay it up for hereafter. See Joh 2:22. We may find use for that another time which now we see not how to make useful to us. A scholar keeps those grammar rules in memory which at present he understands not the use of, because he is told that they will hereafter be of use to him; so we must do by Christ's sayings.

3. That he improved, and came on, to admiration (Luk 2:52): He increased in wisdom and stature. In the perfections of his divine nature there could be no increase; but this is meant of his human nature, his body increased in stature and bulk, he grew in the growing age; and his soul increased in wisdom, and in all the endowments of a human soul. Though the Eternal Word was united to the human soul from his conception, yet the divinity that dwelt in him manifested itself to his humanity by degrees, ad modum recipientis - in proportion to his capacity; as the faculties of his human soul grew more and more capable, the gifts it received from the divine nature were more and more communicated. And he increased in favour with God and man, that is, in all those graces that rendered him acceptable to God and man. Herein Christ accommodated himself to his estate of humiliation, that, as he condescended to be an infant, a child, a youth, so the image of God shone brighter in him, when he grew up to be a youth, than it did, or could, while he was an infant and a child. Note, Young people, as they grow in stature, should grow in wisdom, and then, as they grow in wisdom, they will grow in favour with God and man.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_2:41-42

And when He was twelve years old.

Making a Jewish boy a son of the Law

The following description refers to ceremonies now practised:--A few days ago I attended a very interesting service in a Jewish synagogue. A boy just twelve years old was brought by his father to be admitted as a member of the synagogue; there were present the parents of the boy, his brothers and sisters, his friends, and some few strangers. After several ceremonies had been performed, the priests read a portion of the law in Hebrew; the boy then stepped forward to the desk or platform, near the centre of the building, and read from a roll of parchment, in a clear distinct voice, a short psalm. A pause ensued, and then the old man addressed the boy in a few brief sentences, telling him that he had attained to years of discretion, and knew the difference between right and wrong, great responsibility rested on him; that it was his duty to follow the good and shun the evil; that it became him to show that the instruction he had received had not been given in vain; that he must diligently practise that which he knew to be right; be obedient to his parents, kind and affectionate to his brothers and sisters, charitable to those who needed his help, and faithful to the religion he had been instructed in. Then, placing his hand on the boys head, he prayed earnestly that the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, would bless the lad, would preserve him from danger and from sin, and make him a wise and good man, if he should be spared to enjoy length of days; or, if his life should be short, that he might be admitted to the presence of God in heaven. (Biblical Things not Generally Known.)

The Holy Family on pilgrimage

Every year they went up to Jerusalem. Very pleasant must their journey have been. Very different was it from the journeys we make in this Western isle. No wide road led from Nazareth to Jerusalem. The eighty miles of ground that stretched between the village and the city was only crossed by narrow paths. The journey had to be made on foot. Here and there would be a mule carrying some one too feeble to walk the whole distance. Each village on the route would furnish its little cluster of pilgrims, and as the new-comers mingled with those who were already in the pilgrim band, pleasant would be the greetings passing from one to another. We can picture them to ourselves as they wind through the valleys and at times cross the brow of a projecting hill. We can hear their voices raised in song, raised so that the hills resound, and the awakened echoes bid you think that the mountains are clapping their hands for joy. You perhaps have noticed in the Psalms as they are given in the Bible, here and there, the heading, Song of Degrees. They are the psalms which the pilgrims sang at they stepped along--processional hymns we might call them. Turn to two of them (Psa_122:1-9.) and see how wonderfully fitting are their words for that exulting singing which the pilgrims would encourage one another to give utterance to. We can well imagine Psa_122:1-9, being sung by the pilgrims when first the walls and palaces of the Holy City appeared in sight. The Gospel tells that when Jesus was twelve years old He was for the first time taken by His parents on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. You may be sure that He would take a boys delight in the journey. It was one which would enable Him to open His eyes upon His Fathers beautiful world, and to see beyond the blue mountains which always seemed so mysterious in the distance as He looked upon them from the vale of Nazareth. We may be sure that He would be on the look-out with all a boys eagerness, for the first view of the distant towers of the Holy City. He would enjoy, too, the companionship of the other pilgrim-boys. There were, as the story itself tells us, many of His kinsfolk among the pilgrim band, and He would pass from one group to another, and be welcomed by all whom He approached. When the solemn days at Jerusalem were ended, the company of pilgrims started back for their homes. The Child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. You all know how Joseph and Mary sought Him. I will not now ask you to contemplate the scene in the Temple portico, where He was at length discovered. It is a scene of great beauty, and one on which the thoughts of Christian teachers and Christian artists have reverently pondered ever since it has been described on the Gospel page. But the story of our Lords pilgrimage is one on which our thoughts may well rest, one which we may well take to our homes and ponder over. We have in it an example set which we should never lose sight of. When twelve years old, children were considered old enough to go with their parents to the great worship of the whole year at Jerusalem. The way of the pilgrimage was made glad with songs such as would stir the young heart. In our Christian services, too, we ought to think of children just as did the dwellers in the Holy Land, in their Jewish Services. Again, all life long we should be conscious that we are but sojourners and pilgrims upon earth. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (H. N. Grimley, M. A.)

Important things wrought silently and secretly

You have, perhaps, seen a beautiful rose, soon after it has unfolded its blossom. You looked at it yesterday, as you passed it in the garden, or watered it in the window, and it was only a rosebud, a little knot of fragrant petals, wrapped up together and clinging to one another. You visit it to-day, and you find that during the night a change has taken place. The knot has untied itself, the petals have separated from one another, and now form, not a knot, but a little cup, in which are some drops of the morning dew, a cup more delicately tinted than the finest porcelain, and breathing forth delicious odours. The rose has just opened its breast to the sun. But how long a time has it taken to bring about this result! First, there was the planting the root, which lay under the soil all the winter, and showed no sign of life. But though it showed no sign of life, it was not dead. Nursed for a time by the warmth and moisture of the earth, it was bursting underground; and in the spring it pushed up a little green sprout, which very gradually became a stem, and the stem grew taller every day, and at length a bud formed as the crown of it. And the bud swelled and swelled day by day, and at length one morning you found it with its breast open as I have described. And all this was done quite secretly, without any noise to call attention to it. Now, in the Song of Solomon, our Lord, speaking of Himself by the mouth of the prophet, calls Himself the Rose of Sharon. And in Isaiah it is foretold of Christ, He shall grow up before Him (i.e., before God)

as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. And this opening of the rose is something like the opening of our Lords human soul, when He reached the age of twelve. Up to that period the Gospel history is quite silent as to anything thought, or said, or done by Him. No doubt much was going on in His human mind; no doubt He had many thoughts and feelings, all of them holy, pure, and beautiful, the exact model of what a childs thoughts and feelings ought to be; but God has screened them from us, and not been pleased to tell us what they were. At twelve years old, however, the bud unfolds itself; our blessed Lord becomes fully conscious who He is; and we hear Him speaking and calling God His Father, and are allowed a glimpse into His mind and thoughts. And what beautiful fragrant thoughts they are! Do not estimate the importance of events, then, by the noise they make in the world. The events which startle us most are not always those of greatest consequence. Men often stare and gaze at that which is the least worthy of attention. What is it, think you, which interests the holy angels most? a great battle? a great triumph? the fall of a great city or a great empire? Rather it is the growth and progress of Gods kingdom in the hearts of single persons--the battle against sin which this man is fighting in Christs strength, the triumph over sin which that man is winning by Christs grace; in a word, the inner life of men, the life of the immortal spirit--not that life which is acted in history, and related by historians. And the better and holier we become, the more shall we be interested in what interests God and holy angels. (Dean Goulburn.)

On the way to Jerusalem

The herdsmen of Nazareth were ignorant and poor; still they complied with the law, and at ]east once every year went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. In the procession on one such occasion there was a family, the head of which was a plain, serious-looking middle-aged man, with whom the world has since become acquainted as Joseph. His wife, Mary, was then about twenty-seven years of age, gentle, modest, sweet-spoken, of fair complexion, with eyes of violetblue, and hair half brown, half gold. She rode a donkey. James, Joses, Simon, and Jude, full-grown sons of Joseph, walked with their father. A child of Mary, twelve years old, walked near her. It is not at all likely that the group attracted Special attention from their fellow-travellers. The peace of the Lord be with you! they would say in salute, and have return in kind. More than eighteen hundred years have passed since that obscure family made that pious pilgrimage. Could they come back and make it now, the singing, shouting, and worship that would go with them would be without end; not Solomon, in all his glory, nor Caesar, nor any, or all of the modern kings, would have such attendance. Let us single out the Boy, that we may try to see Him as He was--afoot like His brethren, small, growing, and therefore slender. His attire was simple: on His head a white handkerchief, held in place by a cord, one corner turned under at the forehead, the other corners loose. A tunic, also white, covered Him from neck to knees, girt at the waist. His arms and legs were bare; on his feet were sandals of the most primitive kind, being soles of ox-hide attached to the ankles by leathern straps. He carried a stick that was much taller than Himself. The old painters, called upon to render this childish figure on canvas, would have insisted upon distinguishing it with a nimbus at least; some of them would have filled the air over its head with cherubs; some would have had the tunic plunged into a pot of madder: the very courtierly amongst them would have blocked the way of both mother and son with monks and cardinals. The Boys face comes to me very clearly. I imagine Him by the roadside on a rock which He has climbed, the better to see the procession winding picturesquely through the broken country. His head is raised in an effort at far sight. The light of an intensely brilliant sun is upon His countenance, which in general cast is oval and delicate. Under the folds of the handkerchief I see the forehead, covered by a mass of projecting sunburned blond hair, which the wind has taken liberties with and tossed into tufts. The eyes are in shade, leaving a doubt whether they are in brown, or violet like His mothers; yet they are large and healthfully clear, and still retain the parallelism of arch between brow and upper lid, usually the characteristic of children and beautiful women. The nose is of regular inward curve, joined prettily to a short upper lip by nostrils just full enough to give definition to transparent shadows in the corners. The mouth is small, and open slightly, so that through the scarlet freshness of its lines I catch a glimpse of two white teeth. The cheeks are ruddy and round, and only a certain squareness of chin tells of years this side the day the Magi laid their treasures at His feet. Putting face and figure together, and mindful of the attitude of interest in what is passing before Him, the Lad as I see Him on the rock is handsome and attractive. When the journey shall have ended, and His mother made Him ready for the court of the Temple, He may justify a more worshipful description; we may then see in Him the promise of the Saviour of men in the comeliness of budding youth, His sad destiny yet far in the future. (Author of Ben Hur.)

The silence of Scripture instructive

There is inspiration in the silence of Scripture. The Holy Spirit records only this one incident in the life of Jesus from His infancy to the beginning of His ministry. He thus teaches that quietness and modesty are the best ornaments of youth. And by the special character of this one incident which He has chosen to record, He teaches that the first duty of children is to resort to God, in His House, and in His appointed means of religious instruction and grace; and the second, to be subject to parents and others who are over them in the Lord. (Bishop Chris. Wordsworth.)

Religious training

As soon as the Child Jesus was old enough to join in public worship, His parents took Him with them to the Temple. It was not enough to set Him a good example. They proposed to train Him in the right way. Whatever a child ought to do, his parents ought to see that he does do. If he likes to do it, so much the better. If he does not like to do it, so much the more need is there that his parents should make him do it. Prayer and praise and reverence and devotion, and obedience and right being and right doing in all things at home, and worship and attentive hearing in the House of God, are duties which parents ought to see that their children attend to. If the children fail in these things, the parents cannot count themselves free of responsibility of blame. (H. C. Trumbull.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 2:41-47. Now his parents went to Jerusalem at the passover — As it was usual for those families to do that were remarkably religious, though only the adult males were, by the law, obliged to appear before the Lord on that occasion. And when he was twelve years old — And so, according to the Jewish maxims, came under the yoke of the law; they went up to Jerusalem, &c. — And thought it proper to take him with them, to celebrate that glorious deliverance which God had so many ages before wrought for his people, when he brought them out of Egypt; the memory of which was carefully to be transmitted to every succeeding generation. And when they had fulfilled the days — Eight days in all, one the passover, and seven the days of unleavened bread: as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind — Being engaged with the sacred ordinances of the festival, and the religious conversation attending it. And Joseph and his mother knew not of it — It appears, they supposed that he had set out with some of his relations, or acquaintance, and was in the company — Εν τη συνοδια, a word that properly means, a company of travellers. As at the three great festivals, not only all the men that were able, but many women likewise, usually attended “the celebration at Jerusalem, they were wont, for their greater security against the attacks of robbers on the road, to travel in large companies. All who came, not only from the same city, but from the same canton or district, made one company. They carried necessaries along with them, and tents for their lodging at night. Sometimes in hot weather, they travelled all night and rested in the day. This is nearly the manner of travelling in the East to this hour. Such companies they now call caravans; and in several places have got houses fitted up for their reception, called caravanseries. This account of their manner of travelling furnishes a ready answer to the question, How could Joseph and Mary make a day’s journey without discovering, before night, that Jesus was not in the company? In the daytime, we may reasonably presume, that the travellers would, as occasion, business, or inclination led them, mingle with different parties of their friends and acquaintance; but that in the evening, when they were about to encamp, every one would join the family to which he belonged. As Jesus did not appear when it was growing late, his parents first sought him where they supposed he would most probably be, among his relations and acquaintances, and, not finding him, returned to Jerusalem;” in the utmost anxiety, to try if they could learn what was become of him. After three days — That is, on the morrow after their arrival, which was the third day from their leaving the city, they found him, to their great joy, in one of the chambers of the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors — Who, at certain seasons, and particularly in time of the great festivals, taught there publicly. It appears there were no less than three assemblies of the doctors, who had apartments in the temple. In these it was customary to propose doubts concerning the meaning of the precepts of the law, and the traditions of the elders, which was generally done by way of question. It is certainly a great injury to the character of our blessed Redeemer to represent this story, whether in pictures or words, as if Christ went up into the seats of the doctors, and there disputed with them. Nothing is said by the evangelist of his disputing, but only of his asking some questions and answering others; which was a very usual thing in these assemblies, and indeed the very end of them; for they were principally designed for catechetical examination and instruction of young people; always conducted, no doubt, with the utmost modesty and decorum. And if Jesus were, with others, at the feet of these teachers, (where learners generally sat,) he might be said to be in the midst of them, as they sat on benches of a semi-circular form raised above their hearers and disciples. See Lightfoot, Drusius, and Doddridge. And all that heard him were astonished — The word εξι σταντο, here rendered were astonished, and εξεπλαγησαν, in the next verse, are much more forcible expressions than the words whereby we translate them. They import, that they were in a transport of astonishment, and struck with admiration. As our Lord himself hath told us that, on this occasion, he was employed on his Father’s business, it is probable that, in these his answers and objections, he modestly insinuated corrections of the errors wherewith the Jewish teachers had now greatly disfigured religion. If we recollect that the school learning of the Jews was at this time at its highest pitch, and that our Lord, at the age of twelve years, was superior to the greatest doctors which the Jews could boast of, there will appear very just grounds for the admiration here mentioned.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

C. The Twelfth Year; or, the Growth in Wisdom and Favor. Luk_2:41-52

41Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passoLuke Luk_2:42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast. 43And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother [parents, οἱ γονεῖς]30 knew not of it [knew it not]. 44But they, supposing Him to have been [that He was] in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.45And when they found Him31 not, they turned back again [they returned] to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors [teachers], both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47, And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 48And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. 49And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not [Did ye not know] that I must be about my Father’s business [ἐν τοῖς τοῦ ΙΙατρός μου]?32 50And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them.

51And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature [age],33 and in favour with God and man.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_2:41. At the feast of the Passover.—See Lange’s remarks on the Passover, Mat_26:2 [vol. i. p. 459]. The celebration lasted seven days, from the 15th of Nisan, and was appointed for all time to come. Every Israelite was bound to be present, except such as were unable to perform the necessary journey, viz., the sick, the aged, and boys under the age of twelve, who, as well as the blind, the deaf, and the lunatic, were permitted to remain at home. At the beginning of the month of Nisan, messengers were despatched to all parts, to remind the people of the approaching festival, that none might have ignorance to plead as an excuse for absence. A detailed description of the rite is not necessary for the elucidation of Luke’s narrative; we need only here remark, that every Jewish child of twelve years old was permitted, as “a son of the law,” to take part in the celebration of the sacred festival. According to Jewish custom at a later time, a child was, in his fifth year, instructed in the law; in his tenth, in the Mishna; and in his thirteenth, was fully subjected to the obedience of the law. There existed, also, no longer any reason that Jesus should absent Himself from Judea, as Archelaus, whom Joseph had reason to fear, was already banished by Augustus, after a reign of ten years. Women were by no means obliged to go up to the feast (see Schöttgen, Horœ in Luc. ii. 41); yet the fact of Mary’s accompanying her son on the occasion of his first celebration, needs neither defence nor explanation.

Luk_2:43. The child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.—Luke neither tells us that Jesus remained behind at Jerusalem intentionally, nor that Joseph and Mary lost sight of Him through want of necessary care. A circumstance must here have been omitted; and we may safely suppose, that Joseph and Mary joined their elder fellow-travellers in the persuasion that Jesus, who knew of the time and place of departure, was among the younger ones. The more Mary was accustomed to trust to His obedience and wisdom, the less necessary would it be always to watch Him. An involuntary mistake, of whatever kind it might be, separated the child from the parents. Perhaps, too, they might have become uneasy on His account earlier in the day; but the multitude of the caravans at a time when, as Josephus tells us, Galilee contained more than four million inhabitants, would render an instantaneous search impracticable;34 and a day’s journey being generally not very long, inquiry was delayed till the end of the day. It must not, besides, be forgotten, that in the East even an ordinary child of twelve would be equal to one of fourteen or fifteen among us; and that they could not, therefore, be extremely uneasy, especially about such a child as He was.—See Tholuck’s apologetic treatment of this subject in his Glaubwürdigkeit der evangelischen Geschichte, p. 210, etc.

Luk_2:46. After three days.—If we understand, with de Wette and others, that these three days were spent in seeking for the child in Jerusalem, it is almost inexplicable that it should only so late have come into their thoughts to go to the temple. It seems more probable that we must allow one day for their departure, Luk_2:44; one for their return, Luk_2:45; and the third, Luk_2:46, for their search; and that they found Him in the sanctuary at the close of the latter. (See Grotius and Paulus in loc.)

In the temple.—Probably in one of the porches of the Court of the Women, where the schools of the Rabbis were held, and the law regularly expounded. The Evang. infant. Arab. Luke 50–53, gives a lengthy apocryphal account of the conversation of Jesus with the Jewish Rabbis in the temple.

Sitting in the midst of the teachers.—It has been often said, that it was the custom of the times for scholars to receive the instructions of the Rabbis standing, as a mark of reverence. This has been, however, well disproved by Vitringa (de Synagog. Vet. i. p. 167). We have to understand it in the same sense as St. Paul speaks of his sitting at the feet of Gamaliel (Act_22:3). De Wette insists, notwithstanding, that the child Jesus appears here in a consessus of discussing Rabbis, entering into the argument as a member of it would do. Surely he has not sufficiently considered the following words, ἀκούων καὶ ἐπερωτῶν, which plainly show, that the idea of receiving is here made far more prominent than that of communicating. Olshausen far more suitably remarks, that “a lecturing, demonstrating child would have been an anomaly, which the God of order would never have exhibited.” The astonishment of His hearers at the intelligence manifested in His answers, need not surprise us, if these answers were even as excellent as that which He gave to Mary’s somewhat hasty demand.

Luk_2:48. Thy father and I.—Not merely the only possible manner in which Mary could publicly speak to her son of Joseph, but also an indisputable proof of the wisdom with which she brought up the child; a wisdom, which taught her to say nothing yet to Him of the mystery of His birth, and which had faith enough to wait, till His own consciousness should be fully and clearly awakened to the fact of His being the Son of God. The more surprising, therefore, must His answer have seemed to His mother, as containing a hint, intelligible to her alone, that He already knew who His Father was.

Luk_2:49. How is it that ye sought Me?—The quiet repose of this answer, contrasted with Mary’s natural agitation, produces an impression quite peculiar. He is apparently astonished that He should have been sought, or even thought of, anywhere else, than in the only place which He felt to be properly His home.—Perhaps this was the moment in which His immediate intuition of His destination was aroused. Thus the magnet, if it could speak, would express its astonishment, if it were assigned another than a northward direction, or the sunflower, if it was supposed not to be always turned toward the sun. [Alford:—“This is no reproachful question. It is asked in all the simplicity and boldness of holy childhood.”—P. S.]

About My Father’s business.—The rendering of some, “in My Father’s house” unnecessarily narrows the fulness of the expression. He stays in the temple as such only, inasmuch as it is there that to τὰ τοῦ πατρός are for the present concentrated, according to His view. Better: in the things or affairs of my Father, in that what belongs to His honor and glory. A beautiful exposition of this inexhaustible text may be found in Stier’s Words of the Lord Jesus, vol. I. [I must be, δεῖ.—It signifies a moral necessity which is identical with perfect freedom.—P. S.]

Luk_2:50. And they understood not the saying.—If Meyer and others are right, in concluding that the meaning of these words was totally incomprehensible to His parents, this inexplicable ignorance might perhaps be adduced, as evidence against the truth of the history of the Nativity and its miracles. We do not, however, see any reason why we should not attribute their astonishment to the fact, that he should, sponte sua, so plainly express what He had learned neither from them nor from the doctors Besides, twelve years of quiet oblivion had elapsed, between His birth and this moment; and even the faith of a Mary would not be always equally clear and strong.

Luk_2:51. And was subject unto them.—It seems almost as if Luke were trying to oppose the notion, that the child, whose faculties were developing in so heavenly a manner, had even for an instant spoken in an unchildlike manner to His mother and foster-father. If His heart drew Him to the temple, the voice of duty called Him back to Galilee; and, perfect even in childhood, He yielded implicit obedience to this voice. The blossom of His inner life, which had opened and spread abroad its first fragrance in the temple, was to continue expanding in the obscurity of Nazareth; and Mary was to wait eighteen years, keeping “all these sayings in her heart,” before anything else unprecedented should occur.

Luk_2:52. In wisdom and age.—Age (margin) would seem the preferable rendering of ἡλικία, for, though increase in age is as inevitable a consequence as increase of stature, yet the former expression is important to Luke, who, having spoken of His twelfth year, and being about to mention His thirtieth (Luk_3:23), characterizes, by this concluding formula, the whole of these eighteen years as a period of development.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. We may compare the appearance of Jesus on earth to the course of the sun. The first light appeared above the horizon on the night of the Nativity at Bethlehem; when His public ministry began, this light had gained its meridian height; but as the sun’s journey from east to south is often performed amidst darkening clouds, so is the history of these thirty years for the most part veiled in obscurity. Only once, in this long morning, is the veil of clouds drawn aside, and we get a glimpse of the increasing glories of this Sun of Righteousness; and this moment of brightness is the epoch of this Passover feast.

2. Perhaps there are few passages in Luke’s history of the birth and childhood of Jesus, which bear such incontestable marks of truth and reality as this. A comparison with the apocryphal Gospels is even unnecessary, as the whole narrative breathes throughout a truth and simplicity, with which nothing else can be compared. What writer of a fiction would ever have imagined an occurrence, from which the miraculous is so entirely banished, in which no angel is introduced to assist in the discovery of the lost child, but his parents are represented as finding Him again in an ordinary manner, and one in which even an appearance of disobedience to Mary is cast upon Jesus! To be unable to imagine so precocious a development, is to place the Lord behind many children, of whom remarkable traits of early maturity are related. Nor should we forget here the remark of a Christian apologist, that “in Christianity, and in its sacred records, the motto of cold intellectual culture, ‘nil mirari,’ is less applicable than the principle of the most sublime of its predecessors: τὸ θαυμάζειν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀρχή.” Osiander.

[“Of the boyhood of Jesus, we know only one fact, recorded by Luke; but it is in perfect keeping with the peculiar charm of His childhood, and foreshadows, at the same time, the glory of His public life, as one uninterrupted service of His heavenly Father. When twelve years old, we find Him in the temple, in the midst of the Jewish doctors, not teaching and offending them, as in the apocryphal Gospels, by any immodesty or forwardness, but hearing and asking questions, thus actually learning from them, and yet filling them with astonishment at His understanding and answers. There is nothing premature, forced or unbecoming His age, and yet a degree of wisdom and an intensity of interest in religion, which rises far above a purely human youth. ‘He increased,’ we are told, ‘in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.’ He was subject to His parents, and practised all the virtues of an obedient son; and yet He filled them with a sacred awe as they saw Him absorbed in the things of His Father, and heard Him utter words, which they were unable to understand at the time, but which Mary treasured up in her heart as a holy secret, convinced that they must have some deep meaning, answering to the mystery of His supernatural conception and birth. Such an idea of a harmless and faultless heavenly childhood, of a growing, learning, and yet surprisingly wise boyhood, as it meets us in living reality at the portal of the Gospel history, never entered the imagination of a biographer, poet, or philosopher before. On the contrary, as has been justly observed by Dr. H. Bushnell (on the Character of Jesus, p. 19), ‘in all the higher ranges of character, the excellence portrayed is never the simple unfolding of a harmonious and perfect beauty contained in the germ of childhood, but is a character formed by a process of rectification, in which many follies are mended and distempers removed, in which confidence is checked by defeat, passion moderated by reason, smartness sobered by experience. Commonly a certain pleasure is taken in showing how the many wayward sallies of the boy are, at length, reduced by discipline to the character of wisdom, justice, and public heroism, so much admired. Besides, if any writer, of almost any age, will undertake to describe not merely a spotless, but a superhuman or celestial childhood, not having the reality before him, he must be somewhat more than human himself, if he do not pile together a mass of clumsy exaggerations, and draw and overdraw, till neither heaven nor earth can find any verisimilitude in the picture.’—This unnatural exaggeration, into which the mythical fancy of man, in its endeavor to produce a superhuman childhood and boyhood, will inevitably fall, is strikingly exhibited in the myth of Hercules, who, while yet a suckling in the cradle, squeezed two monster serpents to death with his tender hands, and still more in the accounts of the apocryphal Gospels, on the wonderful performances of the infant Saviour. These apocryphal Gospels are related to the canonical Gospels as the counterfeit to the genuine coin, or as a revolting caricature to the inimitable original; but, by the very contrast, they tend, negatively, to corroborate the truth of the evangelical history. The strange contrast has been frequently urged, especially in the Strauss controversy, and used as an argument against the mythical theory. While the evangelists expressly reserve the performance of miracles to the age of maturity and public life, and observe a significant silence concerning the parents of Jesus, the pseudo-evangelists fill the infancy and early years of the Saviour and His mother with the strangest prodigies, and make the active intercession of Mary very prominent throughout. According to their representation, even dumb idols, irrational beasts, and senseless trees, bow in adoration before the infant Jesus, on his journey to Egypt; and after His return, when yet a boy of five or seven years, He changes balls of clay into flying birds, for the idle amusement of His playmates; strikes terror round about Him, dries up a stream of water by a mere word, transforms His companions into goats, raises the dead to life, and performs all sorts of miraculous cures, through a magical influence which proceeds from the very water in which he was washed, the towels which he used, and the bed on which he slept. Here we have the falsehood and absurdity of unnatural fiction, while the New Testament presents to us the truth and beauty of a supernatural, yet most real history, which shines out only in brighter colors by the contrast of the mythical shadows.” (From Schaff’s Person of Christ, the Miracle of History. Boston, 1865, p. 28 ff.)—P. S.]

3. The first words which drop from the lips of the Word made flesh, are especially important in a doctrinal point of view. They are the childlike and naïve expression of direct and infallible self-consciousness, now gradually developing into higher knowledge. This is the moment in which the long-closed and slowly-growing bud first breaks through its outer covering. The child Jesus excites astonishment, but shows none, except at the fact that they knew not where to find Him. But the deep mysteries of His nature are still covered with a garment of the purest innocence. The temple is to Him, in the fullest sense, the dwelling-place of His Father, of whom He will soon declare, that “God is a Spirit.” His ear, desirous of instruction, is seeking answers to important and vital questions from those Rabbis, against whose perversions of Scripture He will soon denounce a terrible woe. His foot, which an irresistible yet inexplicable attraction draws toward the temple, soon submissively follows the track which the will of His parents points out. We feel that the child Jesus must have acted thus, and could not have acted otherwise.

4. But this passage of Christ’s early history is of extreme importance for other reasons. It is important in its influence on the present. Hitherto pious Jews and lowly shepherds, waiting for the salvation of Israel, have borne testimony to the infant Messiah: He now bears testimony to Himself; and the whole occurrence, which would surely be impressed on the mind of certain doctors of Jerusalem, was a fresh hint to the whole Jewish nation, to give a becoming reception to Him who would shortly appear among them. It is also important in its relation to the past. A seal is now set to the word of the angel, “He shall be called the Son of the Highest” (Luk_1:32). The consciousness of Jesus is aroused to this unique relationship, and a ray now gilds the obscurity of Nazareth, which must recall to Mary’s mind the miracles of Bethlehem, and direct her hopes to a future full of blessings. Finally, it is important as a sign of the future: if ever the saying of a child was prophetic, it was the saying of Jesus in the temple. It is the programme, the key-note, of the whole future earthly and heavenly life of our Lord. His consciousness of divinity, His obedience, His self-denial, His speech, as never man spake, all are here present in nuce, soon to be manifested in luce. Luk_2:49 is the germ of Joh_4:34; Joh_8:29; Joh_9:4; and even His farewell to life, Joh_17:4, naturally refers to this beginning.

5. The outer life of Jesus, during the next eighteen years, is covered with a veil of obscurity, which not even the writers of the apocryphal Gospels have ventured to lift. His days seem to have been quietly passed in the privacy of the domestic circle. Even Nathanael, who lived at Cana, only three leagues off from Nazareth, Joh_1:46-47, had never yet heard anything of the son of Joseph. The death of His foster-father probably happened during this interval. Miracles would have been without purpose in the retirement of home; and Joh_2:3 cannot be understood to denote that any had yet been performed by him. Mar_6:3 (according to the true reading, ὁτέκτων) shows decidedly that He had worked at His father’s trade; a fact supported also by tradition. See Justinus M., Dialog. cum Tryph. Luke 88. Compare the account of a remarkable statement of Julian the Apostate, in Theodoret, H. E. iii. 23, and Sozomen, vi. 2. The family of Nazareth seems not to have lived in a state of extreme poverty, but still less in the possession of any temporal superfluity.

6. The increase of Jesus in wisdom during this period was,—(1) real. Jesus had to learn from the words of others what as yet He knew not; and that was entirely unknown to Him as a child, which He had a glimpse of as a boy, conjectured as a youth, and first clearly perceived as a man.—(2) Unchecked. In attributing to the Lord Jesus the relative imperfection of childhood, we must carefully avoid imputing to Him the failings of childhood. His life showed no trace of childish faults, to be hereafter conquered. The words of John, Mat_3:14, show, on the contrary, what impression was made by His moral purity when thirty years of age; and the voice from heaven, Luk_2:17, sets the seal of the divine approval on the now completed development of the Son of Man, a seal which the Holy One of Israel would only have affixed to absolute perfection.—(3) It was effected by means. We may exclude from the means whereby this development was effected, (a) a learned education by Jewish doctors (Joh_7:15); (b) an Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, or Alexandrian training, which was formerly thought of; (c) an instruction in the principles of the various Jewish sects, viz., the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. On the other hand, we may ascribe more or less influence to—(a) His training by the pious Mary, and the godly Joseph, in the ways of a quiet domestic life; (b) to the natural beauties of the neighborhood of Nazareth;35 (c) to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which He undoubtedly read, understood, and delighted in, more than any other child; (d) to the annual journeys to Jerusalem, which must certainly have opened His eyes to the corruption of His nation and its leaders; and (e) above all to prayerful communion with His heavenly Father. But, allowing for all these, we are forced to recur (f) to that essential singularity in the personality of the Lord, whereby, with such comparatively weak and disproportioned means, he could become actu, what He had been from His birth potentiâ.—Lastly, [4] the development of the God-Man was normal, inasmuch as it holds up to His people an example of what they must more and more approach unto, in fellowship with Himself, growing by the faithful use of every means of grace, from “little children” to “young men,” and from “young men” to “fathers” in Christ: 2Co_3:18; 2Pe_3:18.—On the whole subject of the human development of the Son of Man, compare Athanasius, Orat. III. contra Arian, Luke 51 (tom. i., p. 475), and Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio 43 in laud. Basilii, Luke 38. See also the excellent remarks of Ullmann, Sinlessness of Jesus (p. 104 f. of the 5th German edition), and those of Martensen in his Dogmatik ii., p. 315. The latter well observes, that “we see in this narrative, not only that the consciousness of His peculiar relation to His Father is dawning within Him; but that in His sitting in the midst of the teachers of His nation, not merely listening, but astonishing them by His questions and answers, we may also perceive the earliest revelation of His productive relation to those around Him (discendo docuit).”

[P. Schaff (The Person of Christ, etc., 1865, p. 34 ff.): “Jesus grew up among a people seldom and only contemptuously named by the ancient classics, and subjected at the time to the yoke of a foreign oppressor; in a remote and conquered province of the Roman empire; in the darkest district of Palestine; in a little country-town of proverbial insignificance; in poverty and manual labor; in the obscurity of a carpenter’s shop; far away from universities, academies, libraries, and literary or polished society; without any help, as far as we know, except the parental care, the daily wonders of nature, the Old Testament Scriptures, the weekly Sabbath services of the synagogue at Nazareth (Luk_4:16), the annual festivals in the temple of Jerusalem (Luk_2:42), and the secret intercourse of His soul with God, His heavenly Father. These are, indeed, the great educators of the mind and heart; the book of nature and the book of revelation are filled with richer and more important lessons, than all the works of human art and learning. But they were accessible alike to every Jew, and gave no advantage to Jesus over His humblest neighbor. Hence the question of Nathaniel, “What good can come out of Nazareth?” Hence the natural surprise of the Jews, who knew all His human relations and antecedents. “How knoweth this man letters?” they asked, when they heard Jesus teach, “having never learned?” (Joh_7:15.) And on another occasion, when He taught in the synagogue, “Whence has this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not His mother Mary and His brethren (brothers) James and Joses and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence, then, hath this man all these things?” These questions are unavoidable and unanswerable, if Christ be regarded as a mere man. For each effect presupposes a corresponding cause. .. Jesus can be ranked neither with the school-trained nor with the self-trained or self-made men, if by the latter we understand, as we must, those who without the regular aid of living teachers, yet with the same educational means, such as books, the observation of men and things, and the intense application of their mental faculties, attained to vigor of intellect and wealth of scholarship, like Shakspeare, Jacob Boehm, Benjamin Franklin, and others. All the attempts to bring Him into contact with Egyptian wisdom, or the Essenic Theosophy, or other sources of learning, are without a shadow of proof, and explain nothing after all. He never quotes from books except the Old Testament, He never refers to secular history, poetry, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, foreign languages, natural sciences, or any of those branches of knowledge which make up human learning and literature. He confined himself strictly to religion. But from that centre He shed light over the whole world of man and nature. In this department, unlike all other great men, even the prophets and the apostles, He was absolutely original and independent. He taught the world as one who had learned nothing from it and was under no obligation to it. He speaks from divine intuition as one who not only knows the truth, but who is the truth, and with an authority, which commands absolute submission, or provokes rebellion, but can never be passed by with contempt or indifference. His character and life were originated and sustained in spite of circumstances with which no earthly force could have contended, and therefore must have had their real foundation in a force which was preternatural and divine.”—P. S.]

7. We may be thankful that St. Luke, compared with the other Evangelists, has communicated to us so much of the early history of our Lord; nor less so, that he has told us so little; as this very reticence furnishes a proof of his fides historica, checks vain curiosity, and shows us how infinitely more important for our faith is the history of His ministry, passion, death, and glorification, than that of His youth and childhood.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The first Passover of Jesus: 1. The history; 2. the significance of this journey for Jesus, for His parents, for Israel, for the world.—The first appearance of the Messiah in the sanctuary.—The glory of the second house greater than that of the first, Hag_2:10.—The first Passover of Jesus: 1. Visited with desire; 2. celebrated worthily; 3. left obediently.—The parents and the child united before the Lord.—The Son of Man once a lost son.—Seeking for Jesus: 1. The anxiety of deprivation; 2. the joy of finding.—The interchange of joy and sorrow during our earthly pilgrimage.—Jesus lost in the hurry and bustle of the world, but found again in the temple.—Jesus sitting in the midst of the teachers whom He was afterwards to oppose.—The school of Rabbis at Jerusalem, a model for parents and children.—Mary’s astonishment excited by Jesus, comp. Luk_2:18; Luk_2:33.—The over-hasty zeal of Mary, and the heavenly tranquillity of Jesus.—God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, in a sense applicable to Him alone.—The Son of Man aroused to the consciousness of His being the God-Man.—To be about His Father’s business, the vocation, 1. of Christ; 2. of the Christian.—Even the first recorded saying of the Lord too deep to be entirely understood, the explanation of all His deeds, and the key to His whole life.—Christ’s first Passover journey: 1. A glimpse into the history of His youth; 2. a turning-point in the history of His development; 3. a turning-point in the history of salvation.—The return from Jerusalem to Nazareth, a specimen of the voluntary self-denial and obedience of Christ.—Jesus, even at Nazareth, about His Father’s business.—The contemplative faith of Mary, 1. in its secret conflict, 2. in its final triumph.—The growth in secret, both in wisdom and stature, from the imperfect child to the perfect man, of Him who was the Most High and Most Glorious.—The increase in grace.—He who finds favor with God, finds favor also with man.—The season of waiting.—Faithfulness in little things.—The fifth commandment not destroyed but fulfilled by Jesus.—The fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom.—Increase in wisdom and age, the work of grace; favor, the crown put upon wisdom and age.—That which is most precious, though ripening in the world, 1. was then, 2. is now, 3. will be ever, hidden from the eye of the world.

Starke:—The care parents should have for their children.—To public worship must be added domestic worship.—Quesnel:—Jesus is more often lost in time of prosperity than in times of misfortune and persecution.—Hedinger:—We often, from erroneous judgment, seek Christ among our kinsfolk and acquaintance, where He

is not to be found.—We often have to seek long for Jesus; and this is our best employment, even if we have to spend more than one spiritual day’s journey upon it.—Sorrow for the loss of Jesus, a reasonable sorrow.—He who would be a teacher of others, must first be a learner.—Cramer:—Christ has hallowed instruction by question and answer.—The more spiritual gifts any one has received, the more careful will he be to avoid boasting.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Jesus more learned than His teachers (Isa_50:4): let us hear Him.—Parents transgress when they reprove and punish their children unseasonably or unreasonably, Pro_20:1-6; Pro_22:6.—Majus:—Children may instruct their parents, if they do it respectfully and modestly, 1Sa_19:4.—We must not despise what we do not understand.—Osiander:—Christ has, by His obedience, made satisfaction for the disobedience of children; while, by His example, He teaches children to obey their parents.—Faith keeps in her heart even what she does not understand.—There is little hope of children who increase in age and stature only, and decrease in wisdom and favor.

Heubner:—The care of man is not sufficient for children, if God does not add to it the care of His angels.—Even good children may innocently cause grief.—As Jesus grew and ripened in retirement, so the ministers of the gospel often have long to wait before God calls them into full work.—Jesus commanding respect even as a boy.—The family of Jesus a model for Christian families.—The charms of the history of Jesus for the young.

Stier:—The holy child Jesus and our children (a continuous contrast).—Arndt:—1. The tokens; 2. the excitements; 3. the fruits of early piety, visible in the holy child Jesus.—The early history of Jesus: 1. Jesus in Nazareth; 2. Jesus of Nazareth.—A des Amorie v. d. Hoeven (preacher in Utrecht, died 1849): 1. Behold the child Jesus! 2. Behold in the child the man Jesus! 3. Become children in Christ, that you may become men!—Gerdessen:—The appearance of Christ in the sanctuary: Ought He not to be, 1. about His Father’s business; 2. in the midst of the teachers; 3. according to the usage of the feast; 4. sought for sorrowing; and 5. manifesting a childlike disposition?—M. G. Albrecht (died 1835): The child Jesus is often lost in our days, after a spiritual manner.—Gaupp:—The Mediator between God and man discernible in Jesus, even in His twelfth year: 1. In the holy privacy of His life in God; 2. in the consciousness of His relation to the Father; 3. in the unintermitted occupation of His spirit with the work which the Father had given Him to do.—Rautenberg:—Our children our judges: 1. What this means; 2. how this happens; 3. to what this leads.—Finally, an excellent sermon by Adolphe Monod (died 1856): Jésus enfant, modèle des enfants, Paris, 1857.

Footnotes:

[30]Luk_2:43.—It is more probable that the original reading οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ, His parents, which is sustained by Codd. Sinait., Vatic., Vulg. (parentes ejus), etc., recommended by Griesbach, and adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Tregelles (also by van Oosterzee in his Version), was changed for dogmatic reasons into the text. rec.: Ἰωσὴφ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ, than vice versa. Comp. Crit. Note 1 on Luk_2:33. Meyer, however, defends the lect. rec., and regards οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ as an addition from Luk_2:41.

[31]Luk_2:45.—Αὐτόν, after εὑρόντες is wanting in the best authorities, and a superfluous insertion a seriore manu.

[32]Luk_2:49.—Literally: in the things of My Father; in rebus Patris Mei; in dem, was Meines Vaters ist. Comp. 1Ti_4:15, ἐν τούτοις ἴσθι. So Maldonatus, Wolf, Valckenaer, Rosenmüller, de Wette, Ewald, van Oosterzee, Alford (who, however, strangely translates: among My Father’s matters), and all the older English Versions. But the fathers and the majority of modern commentators, including Meyer, also the revised N. T. of the Am. B. U., give the phrase a local reference: in My Father’s house, i.e., in the temple. This is grammatically equally correct, but it improperly limits and weakens the rich meaning, since Christ could only occasionally be in the temple. The preposition ἐν denotes the life-element in which Christ moved during His whole life, whether in the temple or out of it. See also the author’s Exeg. Note, p. 49, in which I entirely concur.

[33]Luk_2:52.—The primary meaning of ἡλικία (from ἧλιξ, of age, in the prime of life) is age, the flower or prime of life, manhood, and is so correctly understood here by the Vulgate (ætate), Erasmus, Luther, Wiclif, Tyndale, Cranmer, the Rheims N. T., Kuinœl, de Wette, Alford, Whiting, van Oosterzee, and many others, comp. Joh_9:21; Joh_9:23; Heb_11:11; also Luk_12:25 and Mat_6:27 (see Lange’s note, vol. i. p. 134). The Genevan and the Authorized E. V., Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Ewald, Meyer, Robinson (Diction.), the revised N. T. of the Am. B. U., etc., translate: stature, growth, as in Luk_19:3 (τῇ ἡλικία μικρός). But the only reason urged by Meyer against the former version, applies rather to the latter; for growth in age is more comprehensive than growth in stature. The meaning of the passage is that Jesus grew in wisdom as well as in age.—P. S.]

[34][At the time of David the whole population of Palestine furnished one million three hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms (2Sa_24:9), which would give us only a total population of nearly five millions. But at the time of Christ, Galilee, owing to the great fertility of its soil, was very densely populated, and Josephus states that the smallest of its four hundred and four towns and villages, numbered over fifteen thousand inhabitants (De bello Judges 1.i. c. 3, § 2; Vit. 25). As to the city of Jerusalem, the ordinary number of inhabitants, according to Hecatæus, was one hundred and twenty thousand; and at the time of the passover, the population, according to Josephus, De bello Jud. iv. 9, 3, exceeded the number of two million seven hundred thousand male individuals, including, of course, all foreigners from Syria, Egypt, etc.; the number of paschal lambs slaughtered amounting once to one hundred and thirty-six thousand five hundred. In such a crowd it was easy to be lost. Perhaps Mary’s homeward-bound steps were quickened “by motherly anxiety for other and younger children left behind in Nazareth.”—P. S.]

[35][Renan, in the second chapter of his Vie de Jésus, gives, from personal observation, the following graphic description of the beauty of nature around Nazareth: “Nazareth was a little town, situated in a fold of land broadly open at the summit of the group of mountains which closes on the north the plain of Esdralon. The population is now from three to four thousand, and it cannot have varied very much. … The environs are charming, and no place in the world was so well adapted to dreams of absolute happiness. Even in our days, Nazareth is a delightful sojourn, the only place perhaps in Palestine where the soul feels a little relieved of the burden which weighs upon it in the midst of this unequalled desolation. The people are friendly and good-natured; the gardens are fresh and green. … The beauty of the women who gather there at night, this beauty which was already remarked in the sixth century, and in which was seen the gift of the Virgin Mary (by Antonius Martyr, Itiner. § 5), has been surprisingly well preserved. It is the Syrian type in all its languishing grace.”—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Christ-Child in the Temple. Luk 2:41-52

The trip to Jerusalem:

v. 41 Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

v. 42. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

v. 43. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it.

v. 44. But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

v. 45. And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him.

We have here the one authentic story from the life of Christ in the interval between the flight into Egypt and the beginning of His ministry. In this narrative He is standing on the threshold between childhood and youth, He is just about to enter upon the critical age of life. Luke’s reference to the regular attendance of both the mother and the foster-father of Jesus at the festival of the Passover throws an interesting light upon their habits. The Law required that the men appear before the Lord three times in the year, Easter being one of the festivals when such attendance was demanded, Exo 23:17; Deu 16:16. The women were not included in the command of the Lord, but Mary did not lack companions of her own sex, many of them taking advantage of the festival period to accompany their husbands and older sons to the capital city. Note: The regularity of the attendance is emphasized by the evangelist; a fine example for many parents in our days. When the boy Jesus was twelve years old, the parents followed the rule laid down by the elders that the sons must be trained in the observance of all religious duties and must take part in the festivals with their elders. It was the age at which the Jewish boys entered the secondary school, the Beth-ha-Midrash, the foremost of which was located at Jerusalem and usually conducted in one of the Temple-halls. This was known as ha gadol. The journey to Jerusalem upon the occasion of the great festivals was in itself a festival, especially for the younger members of the family. The people of the more remote parts of Palestine formed large parties for traveling together, most of them going afoot. From time to time some of the older members would begin to chant some of the Psalms of Degrees, Psa 120:1-7; Psa 121:1-8; Psa 122:1-9; Psa 123:1-4; Psa 124:1-8; Psa 125:1-5; Psa 126:1-6; Psa 127:1-5; Psa 128:1-6; Psa 129:1-8; Psa 130:1-8; Psa 131:1-3; Psa 132:1-18; Psa 133:1-3; Psa 134:1-3, or some other hymns. As they came nearer to the city, and the festival spirit took hold of them, they would pluck flowers and branches from trees and wave them in unison’ with the cadence of their song. In this case, Jesus had been in the company of relatives and acquaintances from Nazareth and the surrounding country, and had spent the week of the festival as an interested participant. But when the festival closed and all the pilgrims returned home, the boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem without the knowledge of His parents. They believed Him to be with some of the members of their party and spent one whole day in leisurely inquiring for Him in the caravan. But when there was no trace of Him, the heart of the mother was filled with grave forebodings. They hurried back to Jerusalem. They searched the city for three days.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

JESUS TWELVE YEARS OLD

This inspired omission of our Lord’s biography the first thirty years of His life, with the single exception of His visit to Jerusalem when twelve years old, has been a puzzle to thousands. It is certainly very plausible, as we are not interested in that period of His life in any essential or saving sense, from the fact that, pursuant to the Mosaic law, He patiently waited the arrival of Jewish majority before He entered upon His official Messiahship. If this had been written, it would make the New Testament too voluminous for the mind to grasp and the memory to retain. Hence the omission of non-essentials is a great blessing. So we proceed now to investigate the only item in His history during the first thirty years intervening between His birth and His baptism.

Luk 2:41-52. We have here the statement that when they journeyed from Nazareth to Jerusalem, one hundred miles, on foot, in order to attend the great annual Passover, when Jesus was twelve years old, having spent the time (eight days; i.e., beginning on the Sabbath, running through the week, and dosing on the Sabbath), and with their company — band of relatives and friends traveling together for mutual security and companionship — and stopping at nightfall, they first miss the Child, as so many are going along together, they at first suppose that He is with some of the relatives and friends. (I passed by the village of Beeroth, twelve miles north of Jerusalem, where it is certified that the parents first missed the Child.) Getting ready, and starting perhaps about noon, and traveling on foot leisurely, on account of the women and children, they would journey about a dozen miles by the time to stop and fix up for the night encampment, as was their custom, and is yet, in that warm country. When they miss Him, search thoroughly, and settle the matter that He is not in the crowd, they return to Jerusalem. After three days spent ransacking the city, they find Him, sitting in one of the temple buildings, of which there were very many on the Holy Campus, “in the midst of the teachers, hearing them and asking them questions. All hearing Him were astonished at His understanding and His answers. And seeing Him, they were overwhelmed with surprise and delight, and His mother said to Him, Child, why did you do so to us? Behold, both Thy father and I continued to seek You sorrowing. And He said to them, Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that it behooveth Me to be in the affairs of My Father?” In the Jewish economy, a priest was said to become the son of the law at the age of twelve, being then old enough to understand the commandments and keep them. So here, Jesus seems to accept that situation in the attitude of a faithful Priest in His dispensation. Hitherto in the home, lovingly obedient to His earthly father and mother, we do not know that He had given them any direct information relative to His Divinity and His Messiahship. Now we see that He puts all scruple and inquiry on their part to a quietus by a positive announcement of His Divine Sonship, and His mission on earth, not to do the will of earthly parents (which of course He did, subserviently to the law), but to execute the will and purpose of His Heavenly Father, who had sent Him into the world to perform the stupendous work of redemption.

“They understood not the word which He spoke to them. And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And His mother kept all these things in her heart.” Of course, from the first announcement of the archangel Gabriel, Mary had diligently and enthusiastically remembered everything which seemed to shadow forth the Divinity of her child. Yet doubtless His daily presence with them, thus becoming so familiar and common, as an incessant inmate of the home, they did not apprehend and realize the Divine majesty which so far was hidden in the humanity.

“Jesus increased in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and men.” During the thirty years of His minority, before His reception of the Holy Ghost, immediately after His baptism, His beautiful, amiable, and irreproachable life, brightened with all the loving graces of an innocent and holy disposition, overflowing with kindness and love to everybody as a normal consequence, popular favor and kindly estimation and appreciation turned on Him from all the people. Doubtless all were delighted with Him as an active and prominent member of the synagogue. But you see, so soon as He returned home from the baptism of John and the induement of the Holy Ghost, they all fell out with Him and tried to kill Him. Hitherto He has been an irreproachable member of the Church; now, He is a fire- baptized, Spirit-filled Preacher of the gospel. Therefore His words hew Adam the First all to pieces; then He well says, “The world hateth Me.”

So His favor with men evanesced.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:41-51 Jesus’ visit to Jerusalem when he was twelve is the only account from Jesus’ childhood recorded in the Gospels. Its main theme is Jesus’ early spiritual insight, including his growing awareness both of his unique father-son relationship with God and of his unique mission.

2:41 Every year . . . the Passover festival: Passover, celebrating Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, was one of three great annual festivals that Jewish men were expected to attend (Exod 23:14-17; Deut 16:16). Jesus’ family was devout and observant.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 2:41. Κατʼ ἔτος, year by year) Without fear of Archelaus. [Inasmuch as that prince had been removed after a nine years’ government, and had been driven into exile, the Saviour was able in safety to go to Jerusalem.—Harm., p. 58.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_2:41 f. Τῇ ἑορτῇ] Dative of time. Comp. Winer, p. 195, 193 [E. T. 273, 269]. The three great festivals (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles) were according to the Mosaic law to be celebrated, although with the gradual dispersion of the people this could not strictly be adhered to, by every male Israelite at the national sanctuary,an excellent means of maintaining and elevating the common theocratic spirit; Exo_23:14 ff; Exo_34:23; Deu_16:16. See Ewald, Alterth. p. 406 ff.; Saalschütz, M. R. p. 421 ff. The annual passover-journey was shared also by Mary, doubtless independently of Hillels precept to that effect (Tanchuma, f. 33, 4), and in virtue of her piety (comp. 1Sa_1:7; Mechilta, f. 17, 2). As to the Passover, see on Mat_26:2.

δώδεκα] At this age in the case of the boy, who now was called בֵּן הָתּו̇רָה, began the instruction in the law, the accustoming to worship, fasting, and the like, see Lightfoot, p. 739; Wetstein.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 2:41-52 . When twelve years old . Lk. here relates one solitary, significant incident from the early years of Jesus, as if to say: from this, learn all. The one story shows the wish to collect anecdotes of those silent years. There would have been more had the evangelist had more to tell. The paucity of information favours the historicity of the tradition.

Luk 2:41 . κατʼ ἔτος : law-observing people, piously observant of the annual feasts, especially that of the passover.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seventh Narrative: The Child Jesus at Jerusalem, Luk 2:41-52.

The following incident, the only one which the historian relates about the youth of Jesus, is an instance of that wisdom which marked His development. Almost all great men have some story told about their childhood, in which their future destiny is foreshadowed. Here we have the first glimpse of the spiritual greatness Jesus exhibited in His ministry.

Three facts: 1. The separation (Luk 2:41-45); 2. The reunion (Luk 2:46-50); 3. The residence at Nazareth (Luk 2:51-52).

1. The separation: Luk 2:41-45.

The idea of fidelity to the law is prominent also in this narrative. According to Exo 23:17, Deu 16:16, men were to present themselves at the sanctuary at the three feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. There was no such obligation for women. But the school of Hillel required them to make at least the Passover pilgrimage.

The term γονεῖς, parents, is found at Luk 2:41 in all the MSS., even in those in which it does not occur at Luk 2:27; Luk 2:43, which proves that in these passages it was not altered with any dogmatic design.

Ver. 42. It was at the age of twelve that the young Jew began to be responsible for legal observances, and to receive religious instruction; he became then a son of the law.

The partic. pres. of the Alex. reading, ἀναβαινόντων, must be preferred to the aor. partic. of the T. R., ἀναβάντων. The present expresses a habit; the aor. is a correction suggested by the aor. partic. which follows. The words εἰς ῾Ιεροσόλυμα should be erased, according to the Alex. reading, which evidently deserves the preference. It is a gloss easily accounted for.

The words, after the custom of the feast, perhaps allude to the custom of going up in caravans.

Jesus spent these seven days of the feast in holy delight. Every rite spoke a divine language to His pure heart; and His quick understanding gradually discovered their typical meaning. This serves to explain the following incident. An indication of wilful and deliberate disobedience has been found in the term ὑπέμεινεν, He abode. Nothing could be further from the historian’s intention (Luk 2:51). The notion of perseverance contained in this verb alludes simply to Jesus’ love for the temple, and all that took place there. It was owing to this that, on the day for leaving, He found Himself unintentionally separated from the band of children to which He belonged.

When once left behind, where was He to go in this strange city? The home of a child is the house of his father. Very naturally, therefore, Jesus sought His in the temple. There He underwent an experience resembling Jacob’s (Genesis 28). In His solitude, He learnt to know God more familiarly as His Father. Is not the freshness of a quite recent intuition perceptible in His answer (Luk 2:49)? The Alex. reading οἱ γονεῖς has against it, besides the Alex. A. and C., the Italic and Peschito translations.

It was only in the evening, at the hour of encampment, when every family was gathered together for the night, that the absence of the child was perceived. When we think of the age of Jesus, and of the unusual confidence which such a child must have enjoyed, the conduct of His parents in this affair presents nothing unaccountable.

The partic. pres. seeking Him (Luk 2:45) appears to indicate that they searched for Him on the road while returning.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Scribes and Pharisees are stirred up to hear the wisdom of Christ in his time, by an extraordinary deed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 41. His parents went - every year] This was their constant custom, because positively enjoined by the law, Ex 23:17. But it does not appear that infants were obliged to be present; and yet all the men-children are positively ordered to make their appearance at Jerusalem thrice in the year, Ex 34:23. And our Lord, being now twelve years old, Lu 2:42, accompanies his parents to the feast. Probably this was the very age at which the male children were obliged to appear before the Lord at the three public festivals - the feast of unleavened bread, of weeks, and of tabernacles. According to the Jewish canons, it was the age at which they were obliged to begin to learn a trade.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(41) His parents went to Jerusalem.—The law of Moses required the attendance of all males at the three feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Exo_23:17; Deu_16:16). The dispersion of the Jews had, of course, relaxed the obligation for those who lived at a distance; but it was still more or less generally recognised by those who dwelt in Palestine, and the school of Hillel held the Passover to be binding upon women as well as men. The yearly journey to Jerusalem may therefore be taken as an indication of devout obedience, not without its bearing on the thoughts of the child who, during those visits, remained behind in the home at Nazareth.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41–52. The Passover Visit to the Temple

41. his parents] The great Rabbi Hillel had recommended women to attend the Passover. It was not enjoined by the Law, but the Jews admired it as a pious practice. (Mechilta, f. 17. 2 in Schöttgen.)

at the feast of the passover] Exo_23:15-17; Deu_16:1-16. The custom of going up three times a year seems long to have fallen into abeyance with most Jews. 1Sa_1:21, “the yearly sacrifice.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he was twelve years old,.... Not that he was now, , "a son of the commandment", (r) to use the Jewish phrase; or now came under the yoke of the law; or was obliged to the duties of adult church membership, as is asserted by some; nor particularly to go to Jerusalem to make his appearance at the feast of the passover, or any other feast: for according to the maxims of the Jews, persons were not obliged to the duties of the law, or subject to the penalties of it in case of non-performance, until they were, a female, at the age of twelve years, and one day, and a male, at the age of thirteen years, and one day; but then they used to train up their children, and inure them to religious exercises before: as for instance, though they were not obliged to fast on the day of atonement, until they were at the age before mentioned; yet, they used them to it two or three year's before, as they were able to endure it: a son of nine, or ten years old, they train him up by hours; they make him fast so many hours; and one of eleven, or "twelve years old", they make him fast a whole day: but then this was not law, but custom; and which they observed, that they might be used to the commandments (s), and be expert in them, and ready to perform them when required. It is said, (t) that "there was a good custom in Jerusalem to make their little sons and daughters fast on a fast day; the son of a year, till the very day he is "twelve years old", when he fasts the whole day; and after that they carry him, and bring him before every ancient man, that he may bless him, and confirm him, and pray over him, that he may be worthy in the law, and in good works; and: every one that is greater than he in the city, he stands up from his place, and goes before him, and bows to him, to pray for him: and this is to learn him, that they are beautiful, and their works beautiful and acceptable to God; and they did not use to leave their little children behind them, but brought them to the synagogues, , "that they might be ready in the commandments".

That they might be inured to them, and expert in them, when they were under obligation to them; for they were not properly under the law, until they were arrived to the age above mentioned; nor were they reckoned adult church members till then, nor then neither, unless worthy persons: for so it is said (u),

"he that is worthy, at thirteen years of age, is called , "a son of the congregation of Israel";

that is, a member of the church. When therefore Joseph and Mary took Jesus along with them, at this age,

when they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast of the passover, it shows their religious regard to him; and may be an instruction to parents, to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, after their example,

(r) Aben Ezra in Gen. xvii. 14. (s) Misn. Yoma, c. 8. sect. 4. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 82. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Shebitat Asur, c. 2. sect. 10, 11. (t) Massechet Sopherim, c. 18. sect. 5. (u) Zohar in Exod. fol. 39. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

Ver. 41. Now his parents went, &c.] Every male was to appear thrice a year before the Lord. In the females it was a freewill offering, and well accepted.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

How can we account for what is related in this verse, that his parents went up every year to Jerusalem, during the childhood of Jesus, when, as we are taught in other parts, his parents did not dare to fix their abode in Jerusalem, for fear of Archelaus: but this, says St. Augustine, will not be very difficult to answer; for, it might be easier for them to ascend up to Jerusalem on these particular occasions, without being noticed in so numerous a crowd, and privately return; though it might not be prudent for them to fix their habitation there, lest they might be too much noticed: and, as no one has yet informed us how long Archelaus continued to reign, what St. Luke relates might have taken place after the death of that prince. (St. Augustine)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The law of God enjoined all the males of the Israelites to appear at Jerusalem before him three times each year, of which the feast of unleavened bread was one; but the women seem not to have been all under the same obligation, but many of them went, of which Mary was one, but we read not of Christ’s going till he was twelve years old. Some think that the women used to go once in a year, we read that Elkanah’s wife went, 1Sa 1:5-7, but whether they generally did so or not the Scripture saith not. One thing is observable: the Pharisees, and scribes, and priests had in those days much corrupted the worship of God by their traditions, yet they retained the substance of God’s institutions; we find both our Saviour and his disciples, and other people of God, not wholly forsaking the Jewish church because of its corruptions, yet we cannot think they joined with them in any thing of their will worship; from whence we may learn a tenderness as to a total separation from a church, and the lawfulness of attending divine ministrations, though attended with usages which we approve not of, provided there be no idolatry in the service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

41. To Jerusalem every year—Thrice a year was the requirement to go to Jerusalem (Exo_34:23;) though it is little likely that the same person often fulfilled the three journeys. But these parents every year, once at least, performed the journey to attend the great national feast of the Passover, when the slain lamb foretold the sacrifice of the lamb of God, and the symbols of emancipation from Egypt shadowed forth the far higher redemption. (See notes on Mat_26:1; Mat_26:20-26.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 41-52. The Child Jesus at Jerusalem.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. The Law required the attendance of all men at the three great Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. (Deu_16:16) The dispersion and subsequent residence of so many Jews in distant lands had much broken up the regular observance of these directions. Still, many devout Jews were constantly present at these feasts. This Mosaic ordinance was only binding upon men, but R. Hillel recommended women always to be present at the Passover. The constant yearly presence of Joseph the carpenter and Mary at this feast is another indication of the rigid obedience of the holy family of Nazareth to the ritual of the Law of Moses.

Vers. 41-52. The visit of Jesus to Jerusalem when a Boy.

We now proceed to the solitary circumstance in the Child-life of Jesus which is given in the Gospels. He had been growing for twelve years in strength and in spirit, and the Lord loved him. The Child in Nazareth redeemed in God"s eyes all the world. It was the one absorbing interest in the Divine outlook upon our race. And now he is taken by his pious parents to the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. It is his second visit to the temple; this time he comes himself; the first time, as we have seen, he was presented. The following points deserve attention in this narrative.

I THE PARENTAL CARE EXERCISED OVER JESUS. The pious pair, Joseph and Mary, went, as we are told, every year to Jerusalem to the Passover. And they had given the holy Child committed to their charge such advantages as Nazareth afforded. The home school especially, not to speak of synagogue services, to which he was doubtless regularly taken, evidenced their interest in the welfare of the Child. No sooner, therefore, has he reached the age of twelve, at which time little ones were deemed able to become "children of the Law," than he is taken up by them to see the Passover at Jerusalem. Their pious, consistent life was an excellent preparation for the solemnities of the great feast. Jesus came face to face with the ceremonies after experiencing most tender home care. And the history before us affords ample evidence of the parental consideration. If it was not perfect parental care, this is only to allow that neither Joseph nor Mary was sinless. Indeed, one of the German preachers bases an admirable discourse on parental duty upon this history, finding in it six separate hints upon it.But let us pause a moment over the care with which they must have explained to him all the ritual. Doubtless he saw more in it than they did, but he must have received gratefully their help in the circumstances. To them the Passover spoke of a great deliverance afforded to their fathers; to him it spoke of a great sacrifice yet to come. His insight must have been a deeper thing than they could then appreciate. And now let us pass to the oversight of which the parents were guilty. Their care was great, but it was not absolutely perfect. In the bustle of preparation for the home-going, the parents started with the caravan under the impression that he must be in the company of the boys who were in considerable numbers attached to the procession. They" should have made sure, and not left such a Child to the chances of travelling. We have no right to impute the separation of Jesus from his parents to any lack of dutifulness on his part, but solely to an oversight on theirs. What were all their bits of baggage and their acquaintances in comparison with the safe custody of "the holy Child"? And in consistency with this view, it has been suggested that underneath Mary"s apparent expostulation and reproof there is a latent confession of her fault, which she and Joseph tried to atone for in their diligent search for the missing Boy.

II THE LONELY BOY TURNED INSTINCTIVELY TO THE TEMPLE. The seven days of the Passover Feast had been a rare feast to Jesus. The priests and ritual and all the varied life which thronged the temple court must have been a revelation to him. He brought the consciousness of a Jew instructed in the Law to bear upon the temple and its services. We must look into his mind through the Old Testament. We there find the idea of God"s Fatherhood in relation to his people several times referred to. (Deu_14:1, 2 Hos_11:1 Jer_31:9, 20 Psa_103:13, etc.) To the little thoughtful Boy, therefore, the temple was regarded as the home of him who was a Father to all who trusted in him. And this general idea of fatherhood became specialized in his deep, reverential musings, and he could not but feel towards God as no Jew had ever felt before. Whether he had as a Child the further revelation yet made to him of his peculiar relation to God as the Only Begotten, or reached this in the progress of the years, is what we cannot be certain of. At all events, the temple was the Father"s house. To it the lonely Lad turned. He felt drawn to God irresistibly, now that his earthly guardians had gone away. "When father and mother forsake me," he could say, "the Lord will take me up." The orphan Child, so to speak, turned to the temple, as to his real home.

III HE BECAME A HOLY LEARNER THERE. Not only was the temple the scene of the sacrifices; it was also the place of learning for those interested in the Law. Schools were established within the sacred precincts where the scribes discoursed to such pupils as chose to sit at their feet. The method seems to have been by dialogue the question and answer which once were so prized. Here the Boy believed he would get light about the will of the great Father who dwelt there, and who had given his people the Law. As a faithful Son, he wished to get all possible light about his Father"s business, and so he frequented the schools. He was a "model catechumen," as a suggestive writer on this whole passage calls him.Although he must have seen through the shallowness of some of his teachers, and had doubtless deeper insight than any, he was content to sit at their feet and get all the good from them he could. It was an instance, surely, of great diligence in embracing every opportunity of improvement which came his way. He wanted to learn all he could while he had the chance. And most naturally did his answers and questions astonish the doctors. They had never had such an apt scholar before. His insight led them along lines they never had traveled hitherto. And as for the Father"s business, it at least embraces such elements as these:

1. The understanding of the terms of access to his presence. The significance of the ritual which was celebrated in the temple, the meaning of sacrifice, of bloodshedding, of incense, and of approach by the appointed priests into the Divine presence, all this belonged to the Father"s business.

2. The understanding of the meaning of his commandments. The Law as the expression of the Father"s will, and read consequently in the light of love.

3. How far the knowledge of the Father was to be extended. The kingdom of God in its universal range, as distinct from a narrow nationality, this was part of the Father"s business. Hence the lingering of the holy Learner about the temple schools. His apt answers would procure him lodging and food during the season of separation his parents. Having put God first, all these things were added unto him (Matthew from 6:33).

IV HIS RECOVERY BY THE ANXIOUS MOTHER. Joseph and Mary, on discovering at the end of the first day"s march the absence of the Child, set out for Jerusalem to find him. They doubtless inquire all the way back, and then they go hither and thither through the city, and at last think of the temple. There, in the midst of the doctors, he is found and recovered by Mary. Her words are apparent rebuke, but really confession upon her part of the oversight. She had never before had any reason for fault-finding; it comes all the more surprisingly upon her now. Jesus defends himself on the ground that he was looking after his Father"s business. In other words, he insists on putting God first, before Mary or Joseph. We get an insight into what godliness is. It means making God"s business supreme. God claims first place, and this is what the Boy Jesus gave him. The Revised Version translates the words," Wist ye not that I must be in my Father"s house?" This would simply refer to their folly in not first seeking him there. The Authorized Version is as near the Greek, and of wider import. But Mary and Joseph did not understand his meaning. These are the first recorded words of Jesus; and how they harmonize with the last, when on the cross he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"!

V HIS OBEDIENCE AND DEVELOPMENT. He has got all the doctors can meanwhile give to him. It would not have been profitable for him to have remained longer in their schools, and to have merely witnessed their powers of disputation. He is to have collision with them soon enough. Besides, he will be safer out of their reach in the quiet of the northern home. And so he recognizes in his mother"s call the voice of his Father in heaven, and in the privacy of Nazareth his Father"s business. He has to wait as well as work. Hence without a murmur he goes away with them and is subject unto them. But this subjection and reverence did not hinder, but really helped, his development. "He increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man." As a person under parental authority, he found his reward in wisdom, and became beloved of all around him as well as of the Lord above. It was a beautiful example to set us of being subject under God to parents and superiors. His growth in wisdom was also so considerate. He would take wisdom as others have to get it, gradually, and pass from the known to the knowledge of the unknown. And God"s favor will rest as well as man"s favor upon all who follow in the footsteps of his Divine Son in this beautiful subjection. There is no truth more important at the present time than this of realizing our development in due subjection. R.M.E.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, the persons making this yearly journey to Jerusalem; our Saviour’s parents and himself.

1. Joseph, who is called Christ’s father, not that he was his natural father, for Christ had no father upon earth: but Joseph was his reputed and supposed father, his nursing father, who by the appointment of God took a fatherly care of him.

2. Mary, the mother of Christ, went up to Jerusalem, with her husband and her son: God commanded only the males to go up to Jerusalem, the weaker sex were excused; but the Holy Virgin, well knowing the spiritual profit of that long journey, would not stay at home. Such as will go no farther than they are dragged in religious exercises, are strangers to the Virgin’s piety and devotion.

But, 3. The child Jesus in his minority goes up with his parents to this holy solemnity, thereby no doubt intending our instruction, when we are young to give God an early possession of our souls, to consecrate the virgin operations of our minds to him, and in our youth to keep close to the worship and service of God, when we are so importunately courted by the world.

Observe farther, this holy family came not to look at the feast and be gone, but they duly staid out all the appointed time. Joseph’s calling, and the Virgin’s household business, could neither keep them at home, nor hasten them home before the public duties in the temple were despatched and ended.

All worldly business must give place to divine offices, and we must attend God’s services to the end, except we will depart unblest.

Observe, lastly, the constant returns of their devotion: They went up to Jerusalem every year. No difficulties, no discouragements, could hinder their attendance. Though it is no certain evidence of the truth of grace to frequent the public assemblies, yet it is an infallible sign of the want of grace customarily to neglect them.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41. Went to Jerusalem. The law of Moses required that the adult males of the Jewish nation should appear before the Lord, at the place of his altar, three times every year—at the great festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Though females were not required to attend, they often did from religious devotion.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

When Jesus is 12 years old, he goes to Jerusalem with his family. While he is there, he asks and answers questions of the temple teachers.

His parents went ... Festival of the Passover

This is background information. (See: Background Information)

His parents

"Jesus' parents"

they again went up

Jerusalem was higher than almost any other place in Israel, so it was normal for Israelites to speak of going up to Jerusalem.

at the customary time

"at the normal time" or "as they did every year"

After they had stayed the full number of days for the feast

"When the entire time for celebrating the feast was over" or "After celebrating the feast for the required number of days"

the feast

This was another name for the Festival of the Passover, since it involved eating a ceremonial meal.

They assumed

"They thought"

they traveled a day's journey

"they traveled one day" or "they went as far as people walk in one day"

translationWords

Jerusalem

Passover

feast

Jesus

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

41–52. THE PASSOVER VISIT TO THE TEMPLE

41. οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ. The great Rabbi Hillel had recommended women to attend the Passover. It was not enjoined by the Law, but the Jews admired it as a pious practice. (Mechilta, f. 17. 2 in Schöttgen.) Doubtless one of the reasons why Marcion exscinded these chapters in his mutilated St Luke was the respect shewn for Levitic ordinances in Luk 1:6, Luk 2:22-24, &c.

τῇ ἑορτῇ τοῦ πάσχα. At the feast (Luth. auf das Osterfest). This is the dative of time. Comp. Luk 8:29, Luk 12:20, Luk 13:14-16. St Luke sometimes inserts the preposition, Luk 1:26, Luk 3:1. Winer, p. 273 sq. Exo 23:15-17; Deu 16:1-16. The custom of going up three times a year seems long to have fallen into abeyance with most Jews. 1Sa 1:21, “the yearly sacrifice.”

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41-52.] Visit to the Temple at the Passover. The history of this incident serves for an example of the wisdom wherewith the Child was filled. Bleek. “The Evang. next shews that what he has said is true.” Cyril. ib.

41.] See Exo 23:14-17. Women, according to the maxims of the school of Hillel, were bound to go up once in the year—to the Passover.

τῇ ἑορτῇ] at, or in the feast; not ‘to the feast;’ nor, ‘on account of the feast.’

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

41-52. The Boyhood of the Messiah

His Visit to Jerusalem and the Temple, and His first recorded Words. Here again, as in the Circumcision, the Purification, and the Presentation, the idea of fidelity to the Law is very con-spicuous. Hort, Judaistic Christianity, Lect. ii., Macmillan, 1894.

41. κατʼ ἔτος The expression occurs here only in N.T. Combined with the imperf. it expresses the habitual annual practice of Joseph and Mary. At the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles every male had to go up to Jerusalem (Exo 23:14-17, 34:23; Deu 16:16). But since the Dispersion this law could not be kept; yet most Palestinian Jews tried to go at least once a year. About women the Law says nothing, but Hillel prescribed that they also should go up to the Passover. Mary, like Hannah (1Sa 1:7), probably went out of natural piety, and not in obedience to Hillel’s rule.

τῇ ἑορτῇ. “For the feast,” or, more probably, “at the feast”: dat. of time, as in 8:29, 12:20, 13:14, 15, 16; Act 7:8, Act 3:21, Act 21:26, Act 22:13, Act 27:23. In class. Grk. τῇ ἑορτῇ without ἐν is rare: Win. xxxi. 5, p. 269. The phrase ἡ ἑορτὴ τοῦ πάσχα occurs again Joh 13:1 only; not in LXX. The fact that γονεῖς has not been changed here, even in those MSS. in which vv. 27 and 43 have been corrupted, is some evidence that the corruption was not made for dogmatic reasons. The love of amplification or of definiteness might suffice.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His parents. Though women were not bound to present themselves in person.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.