Harmony of the Gospels, Section 8
SECT. VIII.
S. LUKE, CHAP. II.
Christ sheweth his wisedome at twelve yeeres old.
Ver. 40.
ANdaCompare Exod 2. 10. 1 Sam 2 26. Jud 10. 24 the Childe grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdome, and the grace of God was upon him.
41 Now his Parents went to JerusalembExod. 23. 15. 17. every yeer at the Feast of the Passeover.
42 And when hee was twelve yeers old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custome of the Feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the daies, as they returned, the Childe Jesus tarryed behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they supposing him to have been in the company, went a daies journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolkes and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him.
46 And it came to passe that after three daies they found him in the Temple, sitting in the middest of the Doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And 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.
49 And hee said unto them, How is it that yee sought mee? wist yee not that I must*Or, In my Fathers house. bee about my Fathers businesse?
50 And they understood not the saying which hee spake unto them.
51 And hee went down with them, and came to Narareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisedome, and stature, and in favour with God and men.
Reason of the Order.
THe Order of this Section dependeth so clearely upon the proper Order of that preceding, that that being made good, to lie where it doth, as in the proper place, the subsequence of this to it can nothing at all bee doubted of. For whereas all the Evangelists have unanimously passed over in silence, all those yeeres of Christs minority which intervened or passed, between his return out of Egypt, and this passage of his at twelve yeeres old, there is nothing possible to bee found in the Gospels, that can come between, to interpose this order and connexion. The carriage and demeanour of our Saviour in the time between, is onelyonly briefely comprised in the first verse of this portion, And the childe grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisedome, and the grace of God was upon him.
Harmony and Explanation.
Ver. 40. And the childe grew, &c.
TWo yeeres Old hee was when hee went into Egypt: and there hee abode in his Exile, a very small time, it may bee some two or three moneths: about such a space as Moses had been hid in Egypt in his Fathers house from the fury of Pharaoh. When hee returned to Narazeth his Mothers City, being now about two yeers and a quarter old, hee was not weaned [if in this hee followed the use and custome of the Jewish children, as it is like hee did] but still sucked his Mothers breasts: As hee grew in body, hee grew much more in minde; for so the phrase, Hee waxed strong in Spirit, seemeth to bee understood by the Evangelist; taking Spirit, not so much for the Holy Ghost, though it is past question, hee was filled with that, as for his Soule or spirituall part of his humane nature. And so hee describeth his growth in both parts, in the two expressions, The childe grew in body, and waxed strong in intellect and soule: filled with wisedome, in an extraordinary manner above other children, and a graciousnesse appeared in him both in person and actions.
Vers. 41. Now his Parents went to Jerusalem, &c.
Joseph is called the Parent of Christ, as Paul calleth preaching foolishnesse, 1 Cor. 1. 21, 23. because hee was so commonly reputed by men: And as for Womens going up to this Festivall, whereas the Law required onelyonly the Males appearance before the Lord, three times in the yeere, wee shall have occasion to speake of it hereafter.
Ver. 42. And when hee was twelve yeeres old, &c.
At what age our Saviour sheweth his admirable wisdome in the Temple among the Doctors, in this Story; at the same age had Solomon shewed his, in the matter of the two Hostesses, about the dead and living child, 1 King. 3. 25. …8. For that hee was twelve yeers old at that time, may be conceived upon these collections.
First, Absolom began to rebell in the thirty seventh yeere of Davids Reigne, or three yeeres before his death, or thereabout; This is to bee picked out of that datelesse reckoning of yeeres, 2 Sam. 15. 7. And after forty yeeres Absalom said, let mee goe pay my vow, &c. These forty yeeres are counted from the time that Israel asked a King: three of Sauls Reigne, 1 Sam. 13. 1. and seven and thirty of Davids, and then began Absalom to challenge the Kingdome: and the reckoning from that date giveth this hint and intimation, that as their asking a King then did sore displease the Lord, so now are they punished in the proper kind for it, when they have so many Kings that they know not well which to follow, and many of them perish in following the usurper.
Secondly, before his open rebellion, Absalom had been two yeeres in Jerusalem, and not seen the Kings face, 2 Sam. 14. 28.
Thirdly, before that time, he had been three yeeres in deserved exile in Geshur, 2 Sam. 13. 38.
Fourthly, and two yeeres had passed betwixt the rape of Tamar and slaughter of Amnon, which occasioned him into that exile, 2 Sam. 13. 23.
So that counting all these yeeres together, they appeare cleerly to bee ten at the least, betwixt the rape of Tamar and Davids death: and so are they so many of Solomons age at the same time.
Now that there was some good space that passed betwixt these summes of time mentioned, as betwixt the birth of Solomon, and the rape of Tamar, betwixt Absoloms seeing of the Kings face, and his breaking out after into that rebellion, and other spaces, it cannot be denied upon serious and considerate casting up of the Story: But to find out the exact space and measure of time is hardly possible; and so is it to determine the age of our Saviour at the time of his disputing with the Doctors. For though the Evangelist say that hee was twelve yeeres old, yet hath hee left it doubtfull, whether current or compleate: and that it was a whole halfe yeere under or over, it cannot bee denied, seeing that hee was borne about September, and this his disputing was at the Passeover, about March or Aprill. So when wee say Solomon was twelve yeeres old when hee began to Reigne, and when hee determined the controversie of the two Hossesses, it is not necessary, punctually to pick out and shew that space of time to all exactnesse, it sufficeth to shew that the text bringeth him neere to that age under or over. See Ignat. Martyr in Epist. ad Magnes.
Vers. 43. The child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his Mother knew not of it.
That morning that they were to depart to their owne home, it was the custome to goe first to the Temple, and to worship the Lord, 1 Sa. 1. 19. Now the multitudes that went together at these times were exceeding great and many, all the males of the Nation, and very many of the females being constantly present at these occasions.
When therefore Joseph and Mary, and the Galilean company that w…nt along with them, departed from the Temple to goe their Journey, it is likely that Christ stayed behind them in the Temple Court, where also he haunted, till they found him againe. Now hee having been absent from them, and in other companies sometimes before in the Festivall weeke, as it can hardly bee doubted, it is not to bee wondred if they were not so punctually exact, as to bee sure to bring him with them in their sight out of the Temple and the City. For they knew not, nor could they conceive, that hee had any thing to doe, or how he could stay behind them when they were gone, and duplicate page duplicate page therefore though they saw him not, yet doubted they not but hee was with some of his acquaintance or other, in that vast and numerous multitude: Yea, so confident they were of this, that when after a while they missed him, yet did they not suspect his staying behind them in Jerusalem, but went that daies journey forward, searching and inquiring for him among their kindred and acquaintance, that went along with them [for so are those words to be understood] till they came to their lodging. And by that time, not having found him, they resolve, and accordingly doe, on the next morning return for Jerusalem.
It is conceived by some, that the multitudes going to and from these festivale, went, the men by themselves, and the women by themselves, and the children indifferently with either parent, as they thought good, and so Mary supposed that Jesus was with Joseph, and Joseph supposed that hee was with Mary, and by this mis-apprehension, they went their first dayes journey, till they met at their lodging, before they mist him: But if that were certaine, which is very doubtfull, that they thus travailed males and females apart; yet it is cleare by the text, that they jointly mist him in their first daies journey, and betimes in the journey, long before they came to their Inne; and yet would not returne to seeke him at Jerusalem, where they could not so much as suspect that hee would stay behind, when hee saw all the company setting homewards; but they still goe on their journey, and inquire up and downe in the company for him, till their not meeting him at night resolves them, that he was not in the company at all.
Vers. 46. After three dayes they found him in the Temple.
That is, on the third day: for one they spent in journying homewards, though they missed him, the other in returning that journey to Jerusalem, and on the third day they find him in the Temple, where hee had slipped from them in the croud when they came to do their farewell-Worship.
SS. In the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors. Compare Psal. 82. 1. Hag. 2. 7. Mal. 3. 1, 2.
The San…edrin, or great Bench of Judges and Doctors sate in the Court of the Temple: This R. Solomon observeth upon the conjuncture of the end of the twentieth, and beginning of the one and twentieth Chapters of Exodus: for whereas the twentieth ends with, An Altar of Earth shalt thou make unto mee, &c. and the one and twentieth begins with, And these are the judgements, his collection from hence is, that the Judges were to sit in the Sanctuary. And to the same purpose, and farre more largely speaketh Maimonides; The Sanhedrin, saith he, sate in the Sanctuary, and their number was seventy one, as it is said, Gather mee seventy men of the Elders of Israel, and Moses was over them, as it is said, and let them stand therewith thee, behold seventy one. The chiefest in wisdome among them, they made head over them, and hee was the head of the Bench, and Wisemen constantly call him Nasi [the Prince,] and bee stands in stead of Moses: And him that is chiefe among the Lxx, they appoint second to the head, and hee sits on his right-hand, and hee is called Ab beth Din, or the Father of the Court, and the rest of the Lxx sit before them two, according to their Dignity, &c. And they, sit as it were in halfe the floore in a Circle, that the Nasi, and the Ab beth Din may see them all. And they erected also two other Courts of Judges, of twenty three men a piece, one by the Gate of the Court, and one by the Gate of the mountaine of the house: Maimonid. in S…nhedr. per. 1. 5. That is, one at the gate of the outer Court, and another at the gate of the inner. Now into which of these Societies our Saviour was got at this time, it is something hard to determine, since being in any of them he may be said to bee in the Temple.