Verse 49
Wist ye; knew ye.--About my Father's business. In the original, it is, About, that is, at my Father's; so that the meaning is this--How is it that you could not find me? Did you not suppose that I should be at my Father's?--meaning that the temple, the house of God, his Father, was his natural and proper home, and the place where they should have expected to find him. We must suppose that his being left behind by his parents was not designed on his part, both because he at once returned with his parents when found, and also because his remaining at Jerusalem intentionally, without his parents' knowledge or consent, could hardly be reconciled with his duty as a son. It was his principle, as he expressed it, to fulfil all righteousness; that is, to perform faithfully all the duties arising out of the human relations which he sustained.