Luke 2:1

Lu 2:1-7. Birth of Christ.

1. Cæsar Augustus--the first of the Roman emperors. all the world--so the vast Roman Empire was termed. taxed--enrolled, or register themselves.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

LUKE CHAPTER II.

Verse 1. In those days. About the time of the birth of John and of Christ.

A decree. A law commanding a thing to be done.

Caesar Augustus. This was the Roman emperor. His first name was Octavianus. He was the nephew of Julius Caesar, and obtained the empire after his death. He took the name Augustus -- i.e. august, or honourable-- as a compliment to his own greatness; and from him the month August, which was before called Sextilis, received its name.

That all the world. There has been much difficulty respecting this passage, from the fact that no such taxing of all the world is mentioned by ancient writers. It should have been rendered the whole land--that is, the whole land of Palestine. The whole land is mentioned to show that it was not Judea only, but that it included also Galilee, the place where Joseph and Mary dwelt. That the passage refers only to the land of Palestine, and not to the whole world, or to all the Roman empire, is clear from the following considerations:

1st. The fact that no such taxing is mentioned as pertaining to any other country.

2nd. The account of Luke demands only that it should be understood of Palestine, or the country where the Saviour was born.

3rd. The words world and whole world are not unfrequently used in this limited sense as confined to a single country. See Mt 4:8, where Satan is said to have shown to Christ all the kingdoms of the world, that is, of the land of Judea. See also Josh 2:3, Lk 4:25 (Lu 4:25 Greek) Lk 21:26; Acts 11:28.

Should be taxed. Our word tax means to levy and raise money for the use of the government. This is not the meaning of the original word here. It means rather to enroll, or take a list of the citizens, with their employments, the amount of their property, &c., equivalent to what was meant by census. Judea was at that time tributary to Rome. It paid taxes to the Roman emperor; and, though Herod was king, yet he held his appointment under the Roman emperor, and was subject in most matters to him. Farther, as this enrolment was merely to ascertain the numbers and property of the Jews, it is probable that they were very willing to be enrolled in this manner; and hence we hear that they went willingly, without tumult-- contrary to the common way when they were to be taxed.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Introduction

The decree of Augustus to enroll all the Roman empire, Luk 2:1, Luk 2:2. Joseph and Mary go to their own city to be enrolled, Luk 2:3-5. Christ is born, Luk 2:6, Luk 2:7. His birth is announced to the shepherds, Luk 2:8-14. They go to Bethlehem, and find Joseph, Mary, and Christ, Luk 2:15-20. Christ is circumcised, Luk 2:21. His parents go to present him in the temple, Luk 2:22-24. Simeon receives him: his song, Luk 2:25-35. Anna the prophetess, Luk 2:36-38. The holy family return to Nazareth, Luk 2:39, Luk 2:40. They go to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover, and leave Jesus behind in Jerusalem, Luk 2:41-44. They return seeking him, and find him in the midst of the doctors, Luk 2:45-47. His mother chides him, Luk 2:48. His defense of his conduct, Luk 2:49, Luk 2:50. They all return to Nazareth, Luk 2:51, Luk 2:52. Verse 1 Caesar Augustus - This was Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, who was proclaimed emperor of Rome in the 29th year before our Lord, and died a.d. 14. That all the world should be taxed - Πασαν την οικουμενην, the whole of that empire. It is agreed, on all hands, that this cannot mean the whole world, as in the common translation; for this very sufficient reason, that the Romans had not the dominion of the whole earth, and therefore could have no right to raise levies or taxes in those places to which their dominion did not extend. Οικουμενη signifies properly the inhabited part of the earth, from οικεω, to dwell, or inhabit. Polybius makes use of the very words in this text to point out the extent of the Roman government, lib. vi. c. 48; and Plutarch uses the word in exactly the same sense, Pomp. p. 635. See the passages in Wetstein. Therefore the whole that could be meant here, can be no more than that a general Census of the inhabitants and their effects had been made in the reign of Augustus, through all the Roman dominions. But as there is no general census mentioned in any historian as having taken place at this time, the meaning of οικουμενη must be farther restrained, and applied solely to the land of Judea. This signification it certainly has in this same evangelist, Luk 21:26. Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, τῃ οικουμενῃ this land. The whole discourse relates to the calamities that were coming, not upon the whole world, nor the whole of the Roman empire, but on the land of Judea, see Luk 21:21. Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains. Out of Judea, therefore, there would be safety; and only those who should be with child, or giving suck, in those days, are considered as peculiarly unhappy, because they could not flee away from that land on which the scourge was to fall: for the wrath, or punishment, shall be, says our Lord, εν τῳ λαῳ τουτῳ, On This Very People, viz. the Jews, Luk 21:23. It appears that St. Luke used this word in this sense in conformity to the Septuagint, who have applied it in precisely the same way, Isa 13:11; Isa 14:26; Isa 24:1. And from this we may learn, that the word οικουμενη had been long used as a term by which the land of Judea was commonly expressed. Ἡ γη, which signifies the earth, or world in general, is frequently restrained to this sense, being often used by the evangelists and others for all the country of Judea. See Luk 4:25; Jos 2:3. It is probable that the reason why this enrolment, or census, is said to have been throughout the whole Jewish nation, was to distinguish it from that partial one, made ten years after, mentioned Act 5:37, which does not appear to have extended beyond the estates of Archelaus, and which gave birth to the insurrection excited by Judas of Galilee. See Josephus, Ant. book xx. c. 3.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son, made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances of his birth were very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn here for awhile, as at an inn, and to teach us to do likewise. We are become by sin like an outcast infant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one was Christ. He well knew how unwilling we are to be meanly lodged, clothed, or fed; how we desire to have our children decorated and indulged; how apt the poor are to envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by faith view the Son of God being made man and lying in a manger, our vanity, ambition, and envy are checked. We cannot, with this object rightly before us, seek great things for ourselves or our children.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain