And when he was twelve years old— To shew how eminent Jesus was for his wisdom even in his childhood, the evangelist gives us the remarkable instance here recorded. When he was twelve years of age his parents carried him up to the passover, with a view to instil an early regard for religion and its precepts into his tender mind. See Exodus 34:23.Deuteronomy 16:16. It is generally allowed by learned men, that twelve was the age when young people, according to the Jewish maxims, came under the yoke of the law. See Lightfoot's Hor. Heb. on the place, and Wotton's Miscel. vol. 1: p. 320.
Related Commentaries of Luke 2:42
Luke 2:42
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.