The historian Josephus in his Antiquities (10:4) relates to us that Samuel had just completed his 12th year when the Word of God came to him. We also know that Jesus visited the temple when he was 12 years old. Is that the reason we have twelve tribes of Israel or is 12 simply a symbolic number? The true message is not about age, it is about listening or hearing. The distinction is interior. God's word is heard without, but it is listened within.