Sunday, June 14, 2020

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 2:1-7 comments: Caesar Augustus




Luke 2:1 ¶  And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2  (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5  To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke, like any good historian, puts a local event in the context of a larger historical circumstance. Here, the current Roman emperor is named. We cannot be 100% sure of dates but some believe that Augustus, whose great-uncle was Julius Caesar who adopted him as his own son, reigned from 27BC, or before Christ’s birth, to 14AD, Anno Domini or the year of our Lord, signifying time after Christ’s birth.

Julius Caesar had been assassinated in 44BC and a bright daytime comet called today ‘Caesar’s Comet’ was said to have heralded his deification as a god. Augustus Caesar’s typical signature on his imperial documents included himself as the son of god.

Some writers note that the imperial census, which was not just important for taxes but also for expectations of military service, began in Gaul in the first decade before Christ and took 40 years to complete. In any event, there was a regular pattern of census taking for the purposes of governmental control and Rome was all about organization and control.

Cyrenius, aka Quirinius, is thought to have become the official who ruled Syria with the responsibility of assessing Judea for taxation in 6AD which would move Christ’s birth forward six years from what tradition held as the date. Due to the absolute uncertainty of dates with different calendars used by the Jews, the Romans of that day, and we today it is not something I want to spend a lot of time on.

Isn’t it ironic how atheists, agnostics, and people of other religions are forced to mark time from the date of the birth of the Saviour of mankind? Like having to use the pre-Flood world’s remains as fuel and with death itself it is impossible to get around God’s plan of things no matter how hard mankind tries.

So, Luke lets us know that everyone had to go back to their own city for the census which practice is also confirmed by a later document from the rule of the Roman prefect of Egypt in 104.

“The census by household having begun, it is essential that all those who are away from their nomes [a district of Egypt] be summoned to return to their own hearths so that they may perform the customary business of registration and apply themselves to the cultivation which concerns them.”(3)

With such a crowd in such a small village there was no room for Joseph and Mary at an any more comfortable establishment so they would wind up in stable with the baby having a feeding trough, a manger, for a crib. Here was the Word by which all things were created, the Saviour of mankind, not born in a palace but in a dwelling place for animals. This speaks of His humble origins on earth and of the importance of animals to God as their sacrifice was a type of His future sacrifice as the Lamb of God. As He was laid in a feeding trough so we feed on His words and His broken body and spilled blood is fed on as a metaphor during our communion in the Lord’s Supper. Keep in mind that something has to die so you can live. There would be no eternal life with God without Christ’s sacrifice.

Some writers say a poor place like Bethlehem would have had only a space for travelers to park like we have campgrounds today, not much more but a little step up from a stable that they say was probably in a limestone cave. Many believe that the ordinary man and woman of the ancient world would have slept in a house that had room for animals as well. In fact, some writers report that it was not uncommon throughout history for a poor man’s cow to reside under the same roof as him.

I bring this up to show that the expectations for comfort and the modern insulation from animals except for pets was not always the same. We moderns regard our separation from the natural world as normal. We don’t sleep under the same roof with animals other than pets, we experience death typically not in agony but drugged up, and we regard modern table manners and a pristine living space as part of what it means to be civilized. This was not always so until the last century and a quarter. We would be appalled at the sanitary, eating, and living habits of our eighteenth century and before ancestors.

Jesus was born then in the most humble of surroundings contrasted here in Luke against the emperor of the Roman world born in the trappings of power and luxury. I read that Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s propagandist of the second half of the 1800s, called the Bible, “the poor man’s Magna Carta,” meaning that the Bible, unlike how it has been used by the powerful, also contains a powerful statement of the poor person’s declaration of value and rights under God. A person living in a grass hut in New Guinea or Africa or the most humble shack in the Americas can identify with the God of the universe who came to live as one of them in a very backward time and place. The rich and powerful would do well to consider that before they set out to abuse and exploit.

(3) K.C. Hansen, “Census Edict for Roman Egypt,” quoting from Hunt, A. S., and C. C. Edgar. Select Papyri. Vol. 2: Non-Literary Papyri; Public Documents. Loeb Classical Library 282. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1934. http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/census.html

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