The Lost Years of Jesus, based on Jewish culture

Already too many theories and speculation that were written about the "lost years" in the life of Jesus. From the Apocrypha and pseudographa such as: Arabic Gospel of Infancy, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Gospel of Thomas; to The Lost Years of Jesus Revealed by Dr. Charles Francis Potter, Dead Sea Scrolls, A Preliminary Survey by Dupport Summer, The Lost Years of Jesus by Elizabeth Claire Prophet, James The Brother of Jesus, A Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Robert Einseman and other more.

Theories that appear in the books mentioned above really do not need to occur if we properly understand the culture and the Jewish religion, which became the background of the life of Jesus, "born of a woman who under the law" (Galatians 4: 4).

Then, why in the Gospels only told about his birth, the age of twelve, and jump directly to the age of thirty? If we follow the Jewish perspective, it is not something strange. According to Jewish culture, a new man may be taught in public at the age of thirty.

According to Jewish law, the age a child is classified into eight stages as follows:
1) Yeled, "the age of the baby"
2) Yonek, "age of nursing"
3) Olel, "older than the age of nursing"
4) Gemul, "age of weaned"
5) Taph, "age of toddlers begin to walk"
6) Ulem, "the kids"
7) Na'ar, "began to grow young"
8) Bahar, "teens"
Based on the classification of the above, then the New Testament, we only have 3 things written about Jesus, the baby's age (yeled), age of weaned (gemul), when he left the temple in front of Simeon and Anna; and adolescence (bahar, age of twelve) when Jesus was invited by Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem.

Then, why Jesus came at the age of twelve? The answer is because the age of twelve for the Jewish tradition of Jesus' time is very important. At that age, a boy must undergo a Jewish religious ceremony called Bar Mitzvah (son of Law). The basis of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony is a Jewish legend about Moses, who at the age of twelve left the house of Pharaoh's daughter. At the same age of the prophet Samuel that the voice of receiving divine vision; Solomon received wisdom of God and King Josiah received a vision of the great reform in Jerusalem.

At the ceremony the Jewish tradition, Jesus had to do 'Aliyah (up) and bemah (facing the pulpit to accept the yoke of the law). The ceremony is held on the Sabbath, and therefore are also called thepilin Sabbath. Bar Mitzvah age changes in the Middle Ages into the age of thirteen.

If we read the Sepher Gilgulim (a medieval Jewish literature), all Jewish children from the age of twelve began receiving ruah (spirit of wisdom) and at the age of twenty-one added to him nishama (reasonable soul). Since the age of twenty-one must enter the Jewish special school (Beyt Midrash). Stages to be served in Jewish education: Mikra (Torah reading) that started the age of five, Mishna starting age of ten, the Talmud at the age of thirteen (in the time of Jesus: age of twelve); Midrash at age to-twenty, and since the age of thirty only allowed to teach in public.

From all stages of Jewish education at the time of Jesus and see the background of Jewish religion and culture, the speculations about the missing 18 years in the life of Jesus had no historical basis at all.
The answer to the question "Where did Jesus at the age of twelve to the age of thirty?" it appears based on the data contained in the Gospels (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3). Jesus' childhood life like the Jewish children in general and he and his family worked as a carpenter in Nazareth.

READING LIST
- David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (Maryland, USA: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc.., 1995)
- Dean Farrar, The Life of Christ (Melbourne: Cassel and Company Limited, 1906)
- Hayyim Halevy Donin, To Be A Jew. A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life (Tel Aviv: Basic Book, 1991)