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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