Jesus' Inferiority To Samuel In Luke 2:52

The concepts and terminology in Luke 2:52 are taken largely from 1 Samuel 2:26. Yet, Luke is discussing Jesus' highly ordinary upbringing in a normal lower-class home in Nazareth, in contrast to Samuel's extraordinary upbringing in a sanctuary setting with Eli. Critics often allege that Matthew and Luke and/or their sources were making up stories to parallel Jesus to various Old Testament figures, like Samuel. But Luke refers to Jesus' upbringing in a setting that's substantially different than and inferior to Samuel's, even though he thought highly of Samuel and wanted to draw comparisons between him and Jesus. The desire to see Jesus in the Old Testament didn't prevent the early Christians from acknowledging differences between Jesus and those figures who came before him and even referring to ways in which Jesus was inferior.