Between chapters two and three of Matthew there is an interval of about thirty years. In our last lesson was given a sketch of what was probably Jesus' youthful career. Nothing is known of Jesus' life during the interval between his infancy and his discourse, at the age of twelve, with the rabbis in the Temple, as related alone by Luke; and we lose sight of him again after that interview, until he comes to John for baptism, being then about thirty years old.
There are no definite traces of Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, after we see him journeying homeward from the passover-feast, at the time of this Temple episode.
During these eighteen years, great political changes have taken place in Palestine. In Luke iii. 1 a brief mention is made of these changes. We have come to the great moral movement which was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Mark and Luke, as well as Matthew (whose biography is now the book under special consideration) speak of this preparation.
