On the death of the tyrant another angelic voice called him back from Egypt (Matt. ii. 19, 20), and when he felt a natural hesitation at returning to Judma, which had passed into the hands of a prince whose character only too much resembled Herod's, a divine communication by dream indnced him to withdraw again to the north,* and to take up his permanent dwelling in Nazareth 22, 23). The history, which has been hitherto copious, begins Bow to be sparing in detail. Having certified to us by indubitable evidence the perfection of our Lord's human nature, both as to its purity and reality, it at this point only adds a few brief inti mations of its growth to maturity both in mind and body—as a transition to his entering upon that career wbich was the final cause of his mission into the world.
Our Lord's Youth.—lt is not to the beloved disciple St. John, the friend of the Virgin, that we owe the precious record of the Saviour's childhood and youth ; but to the methodical evangelist St. Luke, who has been guided to narrate, in general but effective terms, our Lord's gradation from early to mature age. He tells us (ii. 4t) that the parents of Jesus were accustomed to resort together to Jerusalem, at /east once a year, at the feast of the Passover. Of Joseph's piety and reverence we have several indications ; but here the object of the narrative seems to be to set forth, in its unob trusive manner, the excellence of the Virgin, whose attendance at the festival was not compulsory* (Kuinoel, in loc.) In their blameless care of their son, they took him with them, probably for the first time since his first presentation, when he, at the age of twelve years, emerged from childhood to youth, and, when a Jewish boy, became a rcliriri son of the law, and il:qt? .1011 of the precept, in short, a Hebrew catechumen, emancipated in a great measure from the mere tutelage of guardians, and (like the confirmed members of the Church of England), undertaking the responsibilities of reli gious duty in his own person and by his own wilL In the wonderful Temple scene with the doctors, how completely does the youthful Jesus demon strate his appreciation of these responsibilities— and not of them only, but of that higher vocation of the Messiahship to which no other Jewish youth but he was ever called ! If his display of astonishing' wisdom (iL 47) was unexampled, we must not forget that the occasion was unique. It is a great presumption of the truth of the narrative that the conduct of the young Messiah was entirely worthy of the occasion. The details of the whole event, so graphically given by St. Luke (ii. 4.1-5o), need not detain us. We must notice, however, the two general remarks with which the evangelist both introduces (in ver. 4o) and follows up (in ver.
52) his narrative. There is a shade of variety in the midst of the substantial identity of these grand remarks. The former is relative to the twelve years' growth of his childhood ; the latter is de scriptive of the next eighteen years of his advance through youth to manhood.-1- Both describe, no doubt, an increase, but rather of the development of the gifts than of their bemrd.ra/, for that waspolea from the first (s6 3i iraLSiov nflEave, 71-Xnpor.q.cevow cockles; with which compare the 7r)ojions xriptros of St. John i. 14, and contrast the account of the Baptist in St. Luke i. So, where this clause is absent ; see also I Sam. ii. 26). The first opportu nity which legitimate circumstances presented to Jesus of manifesting in public his perfect gifts was in this visit to the Temple and his intercourse with the doctors. He had not studied in human schools of learning (Neander, Lifr, 36, etc.), but his origi nal, God-inspired gifts, which he modestly exhi bited, as became a boy, shewed such unusually high intelligence (cr6vects, ver. 47) as to astonish not only his parents, but all his audience. We have not the voucher of experience to certify and illus trate the progress of an unfallen and sinless human being in the growth of the perfect faculties of our nature. But this contact of the simple wisdom of the heaven-taught child with the mature learning of possibly a Ilillel and a Shammai, and the wise sons of Betimh, and the most august of the mas ters of Israel (Bishop Ellicott, Lectures, 92), attests at once the superiority of a pure and divine in struction to the sophisticated system of the schools, and the completeness of those endowments with which Jesus was even then invested, and which only wanted time and occasion for their ultimate and perfect display. The brevity with which the sacred narrative treats so many of the years of our Lord's life has often caused surprise. Such brevity is no doubt unusual in the style of fiction or even history, which seek to deck out their heroes in minute and exaggerated terms. The modesty and even silence of the Gospels become thus so far evidence of their truth and inspired origin.* But with all this brevity we yet have in these two gene ral statements, when duly weighed, an adequate introduction to the history of Christ's public career which follows. Before we proceed to that, let us make a passing remark on the answer which Jesus gave to his mother : Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ?' or 4in my Father's house ?' as the words may possibly mean. Among the many features of the wisdom, of which he was full, we must include his appreciation of the Messi anic mission with which he was invested. He be gins now to assert his consciousness of that duty.