Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Luke 2:1 - 2:7
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk_2:1-7
1Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luk_2:1 "decree" These Roman enrollments ran in fourteen-year cycles which began under Caesar Augustus (30 b.c. to a.d. 14, cf. Luk_3:1; Mat_22:17). We learn of these cycles from Egyptian papyri. They took years to finish. A second census is mentioned in Act_5:37 and in the writings of Josephus, which says that it was done in a.d. 6; therefore, the first was begun about 8 b.c. (cf. Act_5:37).
▣ "census" This registration was for the purpose of taxation and military conscription. Jews, however, were exempt from military service. It also included, possibly, an oath of loyalty to Caesar.
▣ "the inhabited earth" This refers to the Roman Empire or the known civilized world (cf. Luk_4:5; Luk_21:26; Act_11:28; Act_17:6; Act_17:31; Act_19:27; Act_24:5; Mat_24:14; Rev_3:10). It is surely possible that some of these texts reflect a world-wide emphasis, like Mat_24:14; Act_17:31; and Heb_1:6; Heb_2:5).
Luk_2:2 "This was the first census" A second census is mentioned in Act_5:37. These Roman censuses took many years to complete, possibly up to fourteen years (i.e., evidence from Egypt).
▣ "Quirinius" There is a problem with this statement and secular history. Quirinius was the civil governor of Syria in a.d. 6. He was the military leader in Syria, of which Judea was a part, from 10-7 b.c., however, he did not become the political leader until a.d. 6. He came to Judea in a.d. 6/7 for the explicit purpose of registration for taxation (Josephus, Antiq. 18.1-2,26). The footnote in the NRSV gives the information that Quirinius was a special legate of Augustus to deal with a rebellious tribe (Homonadenses, cf. Tacitus, Annals, 13.48) and, therefore, was the military governor of Syria while Varas was the civil governor (Oxford, 1991, edited by Bruce M. Metzger and Roland Murphy, pp. NT 79-80).
A Translator's Handbook on the Gospel of Luke, p. 105, asserts that Quirinius acted as a special representative of the Emperor from 12 b.c. to a.d. 16, which included an administrative charge related to the census. It also asserts that he was twice governor of Syria, from 3-2 b.c. and again in a.d. 6-16. The authors of the UBS Handbook, Reiling and Swellengsegel, cite Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 3, pp. 975-977, as their source.
Luk_2:3 The "everyone" refers to males, possibly males with taxable property (land, businesses, etc.).
▣ "each to his own city" This was the unique aspect related to Jewish culture. Nazareth had a clan from the tribe of Judah (family of Jesse) living there, but for several families Bethlehem was their ancestral city.
Luk_2:4 "Bethlehem" This was a small Judean village about six miles southwest of Jerusalem and, therefore, about seventy miles south of Nazareth. It was known in the OT as Ephrath (cf. Gen_35:19), which became Bethlehem Ephrathah of Mic_5:2. This was a way to distinguish it from a Bethlehem in the north of Israel.
This city is known as the city where Boaz and Ruth, who were ancestors of King David, lived (cf. Rth_4:11). David's father, Jesse, lived here also (cf. 1Sa_17:12). Because it was the ancestral home of David, it was the prophesied but unexpected site of Jesus' birth (cf. Mic_5:2; Mat_2:5-6; Joh_7:42).
▣ "because he was of the house and family of David" One wonders how much of the prophecy of 2Sa_7:12-17 Luke had in mind (cf. Luk_1:32) when he recorded this phrase about the lineage of Jesus. This phrase may have been a direct allusion to these OT Messianic promises.
Luk_2:5 "to register along with Mary" One wonders why Mary traveled so late in her pregnancy when only males were required to return to their ancestral home.
1. Joseph did not want to leave her in Nazareth where she would be verbally ridiculed
2. Joseph or Mary knew the prophecy of Micah 5 and wanted to fulfill it
3. God was working in the situation, unbeknown to either Joseph or Mary
▣ "engaged" Mat_1:24-25 implies that they were married, but the marriage had not been consummated. In Jewish culture engagement was legally binding. Marriages were arranged by families and this engagement period usually lasted up to a year.
Luk_2:6 "While they were there" This may imply an extended period in Bethlehem, possibly to keep Mary from the derision in Nazareth.
Luk_2:7 "firstborn" This is used in the OT sense of "heir." It also suggests that Mary had other children (cf. Mat_13:55-56; Joh_7:35).
hyperlink
▣ "wrapped Him in cloths" This term (BDB 367) meant to wrap up with cloth, like a broken arm (cf. Eze_30:21). It is used of wrapping a newborn in Eze_16:4 (cf. Wis_7:4). It is used metaphorically in Job_38:9.
Apparently the entire body of a newborn was wrapped (similar to American Indians) for its warmth and protection. This would have been the common procedure for every child.
▣ "manger" This was a feeding trough (cf. LX, Isa_1:3; Pro_14:4) for domestic animals. These were very crude, non-hygenic conditions, but so was all of the ancient, peasant world.
▣ "inn" The term kataluma is indefinite and could refer to
1. A guest room (animals often lived in close proximity to their owners, cf. Mar_14:14; Luk_22:11; see Kenneth Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, p. xv).
2. Justin Martyr (a.d. 110-162/168) says that Jesus was born in a cave used as an animal corral (common in this area).
3. Others say it was in an open-air courtyard of the Inn.
4. The more traditional interpretation is in a room on the lowest level shared with animals of the home owner (i.e., not an inn).
Bethlehem was a very small village. I am not sure there would be enough travelers to warrant an inn (normal word, pandocheion, cf. Luk_10:34). Jewish culture stressed the cultural obligation of hosting relatives. There were so many relatives in town for the enrollment that no guest room was available. Luke uses this same word in Luk_22:11 for a "guest room" (cf. Mar_14:14).
The term is used in a wide variety of meanings in the Septuagint, but one of them is a room in one's house, usually on the roof (cf. 1Sa_1:18; 2Sa_7:6; 1Ch_17:5).