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- The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ Sometime afterwards they returned to their native land. The. child had grown during these travels, although it had been exposed. to many dangers. Then, as at present, the Oriental Israelites commenced the education of their children at the age of five or six years. Obliged always to remain concealed, the parents did not permit the son to leave the house; so, without doubt, he passed all his time studying the sacred writings, by which reason when he returned to judea he was far in advance of all youths of his age, which greatly astonished the learned elders. He was in his thirteenth year, the age when, according to the Judaic law, a young man reaches majority and has the right to marry and perform his religious duties just as adults do.
There still exists among the Israelites an ancient religious custom which fixes the majority for males at thirteen, when the youth becomes a member of society and enjoys equal rights with the adults. Thus his marriage at this age is lawful, and is even indispensable in the warm countries. In Europe, however, this custom has fallen into desuetude and has no more importance, owing to the influence of local laws and also to the laws of nature, which do not contribute here so powerfully to the physical development of the young as in warmer countries.
His royal origin, his rare intelligence, and the hard study to which he had applied himself, caused even the most noble and wealthy people to regard him as an excellent match, and many strove to secure him for a son-in-law. Thus the Israelites of today hold it as an honor to marry their daughters to the son of a Rabbi or of a scholar. But the pensive youth, seemingly separated from all corporal things, and with a great thirst for knowledge, left secretly the house of his parents and joined the caravans that were just leaving the country.
We may believe that Jesus Christ preferred to go to India, because at this time Egypt itself was a part of the Roman
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