Luke 2:1

BIRTH OF CHRIST. (Luk 2:1-7) CÃ&brvbrsar Augustus--the first of the Roman emperors. all the world--so the vast Roman Empire was termed. taxed--enrolled, or register themselves.

The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son, made of a woman, and made under the law; and it was foretold that he should be born at Bethlehem. Now here we have an account of the time, place, and manner of it. I. The time when our Lord Jesus was born. Several things may be gathered out of these verses which intimate to us that it was the proper time. 1. He was born at the time when the fourth monarchy was in its height, just when it was become, more than any of the three before it, a universal monarchy. He was born in the days of Augustus Caesar, when the Roman empire extended itself further than ever before or since, including Parthia one way, and Britain another way; so that it was then called Terraram orbis imperium - The empire of the whole earth; and here that empire is called all the world (Luk 2:1), for there was scarcely any part of the civilized world, but what was dependent on it. Now this was the time when the Messiah was to be born, according to Daniel's prophecy (Dan 2:44): In the days of these kings, the kings of the fourth monarchy, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. 2. He was born when Judea was become a province of the empire, and tributary to it; as appears evidently by this, that when all the Roman empire was taxed, the Jews were taxed among the rest. Jerusalem was taken by Pompey the Roman general, about sixty years before this, who granted the government of the church to Hyrcanus, but not the government of the state; by degrees it was more and more reduced, till now at length it was quite subdued; for Judea was ruled by Cyrenius the Roman governor of Syria (Luk 2:2): the Roman writers call him Sulpitius Quirinus. Now just at this juncture, the Messiah was to be born, for so was dying Jacob…

2:1-7 Having described John’s birth, Luke gives a parallel account of Jesus’ birth, with emphasis on its lowliness. Although he was the glorious Messiah, Jesus entered the world in humble circumstances. 2:1 Caesar Augustus, whose given name was Octavian, ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC to AD 14. Prior to his time, Rome was a republic ruled by a senate. The Roman senate gave Augustus supreme authority as emperor, and the republic became an empire. Augustus secured the empire’s borders and established the Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”), a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity in the Mediterranean world. • A census registered the people for tax purposes.