And it came to pass in those days
When John the Baptist was born, and Christ was conceived, and his
mother pregnant with him, and the time of his birth drew on. The
Ethiopic version reads, "in that day"; as if it was the same day
in which John was circumcised, and Zacharias delivered the above
song of praise: that there went out a decree from Caesar
Augustus; second emperor of Rome; the name Caesar was common to
all the emperors, as Pharaoh to the Egyptians, and afterwards
Ptolemy. His name Augustus, was not his original surname, but
Thurinus; and was given him, after he became Caesar, to express
his grandeur, majesty, and reverence; and that by the advice of
Munatius Plancus, when others would have had him called Romulus,
as if he was the founder of the city of Rome {z}: by him a decree
was made and published,
that all the world should be taxed;
or "registered", or "enrolled"; for this was not levying a tax,
or imposing tribute upon them, but a taking an account of the
names of persons, and of their estates; and which might be, in
order to lay a tax upon them, as afterwards was: for the payment
of a tax, there was no need of the appearance of women and
children; and so the Arabic version renders it, "that the names
the whole habitable world might be described, or written down":
such an enrolment had been determined on by Augustus, when at
Tarracon in Spain, twenty seven years before; but he was diverted
from it by some disturbances in the empire, so that it was
deferred to this time, in which there was a remarkable
interposition of divine providence; for had this enrolment been
made then, in all likelihood it had not been done now, and Joseph
and Mary would not have had occasion to have come to Bethlehem:
but so it must be; and thus were things ordered by an infinite,
and all wise providence to effect it: nor did this enrolment
reach to all the parts of the known world, but only to the Roman
empire; which, because it was so very large as it was, and in the
boasting language of the Romans was so called, as, Ptolemy
Evergetes
F26 Suetonius in Vita Octav August. sect.
7.
F1 Apud Fabricii Biblioth Gr. Tom. 2. p.
608.
F2 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2.