taxing Summary and Overview

(Luke 2:2; R.V., "enrolment"), "when Cyrenius was governor of Syria," is simply a census of the people, or an enrolment of them with a view to their taxation. The decree for the enrolment was the occasion of Joseph and Mary's going up to Bethlehem. It has been argued by some that Cyrenius (q.v.) was governor of Cilicia and Syria both at the time of our Lord's birth and some years afterwards. This decree for the taxing referred to the whole Roman world, and not to Judea alone. (See CENSUS T0000751.)

The English word now conveys to us more distinctly the notion of a tax or tribute actually levied; but it appears to have been used in the sixteenth century for the simple assessment of a subsidy upon the property of a given county, or the registration of the people for the purpose of a poll-tax. Two distinct registrations, or taxings, are mentioned in the New Testament, both of them by St. Luke. The first is said to have been the result of an edict of the emperor Augustus, that "all the world (i.e. the Roman empire) should be taxed," #Lu 2:1| and is connected by the evangelist with the name of Cyrenius Quirinus. [CYRENIUS] The second and more important, #Ac 6:37| is distinctly associated, in point of time, with the revolt of Judas of Galilee.

TAXING , DAYS OF THE, mentioned in Luke 2:2. Properly it was an enrolment, like our census, but, as its object was taxation, there was a registration of property. It was held, under an imperial order, through all the Roman world. We read of another enrolment in Acts 5:37. That Joseph and Mary were enrolled proves that the Roman and the Jewish usages were employed - tribal registration, which was the Jewish usage, supplemented by family, "for the Romans required the enrolment of women, and possibly their actual presence at the place of enrolment. This mixture of Roman and Jewish usage, so likely to occur in an enrolment made under a Jewish king, yet by order of the Roman emperor, is a strong proof of the accuracy of Luke's account." And yet upon this circumstance depended the Bethlehemic birth of Jesus ! "The Saviour of the world was registered in the first census of the world." There is no direct proof that Augustus ordered a universal census, but it is reasonably inferred, from the known fact that he prepared a list of all the resources of his empire, which was read in the senate after his death. Herod manifestly could not resist such an order, inasmuch as he was but a tributary king. And, as Dr. Woolsey says, "if the census was made under the direction of the president of Syria, by Jewish officers, it would not greatly differ from a similar registration made by Herod, nor need it have alarmed the Jews if carefully managed." The interesting question in connection with this enrolment is, "How can we vindicate the veracity of Scripture in saying that it was first made when Cyrenius (P. Sulpicius Quirinius) was governor of Syria?" To this question, for a long time, no definite answer could be given. It formed one of the commonplaces of infidelity. Josephus states that Quirinius came to Judaea as imperial legate, and in a.d. 6 or 7 he completed a census. But this date is ten years after our Lord's birth. The best explanation of the difficulty is to maintain that Quirinius was twice governor of Syria, as lately proved - the first time before Christ's birth, or b.c. 4-1; the second time, a.d. 6 onward. See Cyrenius.

Luke 2:1-2. (See JESUS CHRIST; CYRENIUS; CENSUS.)