Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 2

LUKE

CHAPTER II.

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

A decree. A law commanding something 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—that is, august, or honorable—as a compliment to his own greatness; and from him the month August, which was previously called Sextilis, received its name.

That all the world. There has been much difficulty concerning this passage, because no such taxing of all the world is mentioned by ancient writers. It should have been translated the whole land—that is, the whole land of Palestine. The phrase the whole land is mentioned to show that it was not Judea only, but that it also included Galilee, the place where Joseph and Mary lived.

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:

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

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

3. The words world and whole world are often used in this limited sense, confined to a single country. See Matthew 4:8, where Satan is said to have shown Christ all the kingdoms of the world, that is, of the land of Judea. See also Joshua 2:3; Luke 4:25 (Greek); Luke 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 occupations, the amount of their property, etc., equivalent to what was meant by a census.

Judea was at that time tributary to Rome. It paid taxes to the Roman emperor; and, though Herod was king, he held his appointment under the Roman emperor and was subject to him in most matters.

Furthermore, 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; therefore, we hear that they went willingly, without tumult—unlike the usual way when they were to be taxed.

And this taxing was first made, ... This verse has given as much perplexity, perhaps, as any one in the New Testament. The difficulty consists in the fact that Cyrenius, or Quirinius, was not governor of Syria until twelve or fifteen years after the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod.

At that time Varus was president of Syria. Herod was succeeded by Archelaus, who reigned eight or nine years; and after he was removed, Judea was annexed to the province of Syria, and Cyrenius was sent as the governor (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 17, Section 5). The difficulty has been to reconcile this account with that in Luke.

Various attempts have been made to do this. The one that seems most satisfactory is that proposed by Dr. Lardner. According to his view, the passage here means, "This was the first census of Cyrenius, governor of Syria." It is called the first to distinguish it from one afterward taken by Cyrenius (Acts 5:37).

It is said to be the census taken by Cyrenius, governor of Syria; not that he was then governor, but that it was taken by him who was afterward familiarly known as governor. Cyrenius, governor of Syria, was the name by which the man was known when Luke wrote his gospel, and it was not improper to say that the taxing was made by Cyrenius, the governor of Syria, though he might not have been actually governor for many years afterward.

Thus Herodian says that "to Marcus the emperor were born several daughters and two sons," though several of those children were born to him before he was emperor. Thus it is not improper to say that General Washington saved Braddock's army, or was engaged in the old French war, though he was not actually made general till many years afterward. According to this, Augustus sent Cyrenius, an active, enterprising man, to take the census. At that time he was a Roman senator. Afterward, he was made governor of the same country and received the title which Luke gives him.

Syria. The region north of Palestine, lying between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. Syria, called in Hebrew Aram, from a son of Shem (Genesis 10:22), in its broadest sense extended from the Mediterranean and the river Cydnus to the Euphrates, and from Mount Taurus on the north to Arabia and the border of Egypt on the south. It was divided into Syria Palestine, including Canaan and Phoenicia; Coele-Syria, the tract of land lying between two ridges of Mount Lebanon; and Upper Syria. The last was known as Syria in the restricted sense, or as the term was commonly used.

The leading physical features of Syria consist of the great mountainous chains of Lebanon (or Libanus) and Anti-Libanus, extending from north to south, and the great desert lying to the southeast and east. The valleys are very fertile and yield an abundance of grain, vines, mulberries, tobacco, olives, and excellent fruits, such as oranges, figs, pistachios, etc. The climate in the inhabited parts is excellent.

Syria is inhabited by various groups of people, but Turks and Greeks form the basis of the population in the cities. The only tribes that can be considered peculiar to Syria are the inhabitants of the heights of Lebanon, the most remarkable of whom are the Druses and Maronites. The general language is Arabic, while soldiers and government officials speak Turkish. No traces of the old Syriac language now exist.

The city of David. Bethlehem, called the city of David because it was the place of his birth (See Barnes on Matthew 2:2).

Because he Was of the house. Of the family.

And lineage. The lineage denotes that he was descended from David as his father or ancestor. In taking a Jewish census, families were kept distinct; hence all went to the place where their family had resided. Joseph was of the family of David, and hence he went up to the city of David. It is not improbable that he might also have had a small paternal estate in Bethlehem that rendered his presence there more desirable.

Her first-born son. Whether Mary had any other children has been a matter of controversy. The obvious meaning of the Bible is that she did; and if this is the case, the word first-born is here to be taken in its common meaning.

Swaddling clothes. When a child among the Hebrews was born, it was washed in water, rubbed with salt, and then wrapped in swaddling clothes; that is, not garments regularly made, as with us, but bands or blankets that confined the limbs closely (Ezekiel 16:4). There was nothing peculiar in the manner in which the infant Jesus was treated.

Laid him in a manger. The word translated as "inn" in this verse means simply a place of halting, a lodging-place; in modern terms, a khan or caravanserai (Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, vol. iii, p. 431). The word translated as "manger" means simply a crib or place where cattle were fed. "Inns," in our sense of the term, were unknown in ancient times in the East, and now they are not common.

Hospitality was generally practiced, so that a traveler had little difficulty in obtaining shelter and food when necessary. As traveling became more frequent, however, khans or caravanserais were erected for public use—large structures where the traveler might freely go and find lodging for himself and his animal, he himself providing food and forage.

Many such khans were placed at regular intervals in Persia. It was to such a place, though already crowded, that Joseph and Mary resorted at Bethlehem. Instead of finding a place in the "inn," or the part of the caravanserai where the travelers themselves found a place of rest, they were obliged to be contented in one of the stalls or recesses designated for the animals on which they rode.

The following description of an Eastern inn or caravanserai, by Dr. Kitto, will well illustrate this passage:

"It presents an external appearance which suggests to a European traveler the idea of a fortress, being an extensive square pile of strong and lofty walls, mostly of brick upon a basement of stone, with a grand archway entrance. This leads... to a large open area, with a well in the middle, and surrounded on three or four sides by a kind of piazza raised upon a platform 3 or 4 feet high, in the wall behind which are small doors leading to the cells or oblong chambers which form the lodgings. The cell, with the space on the platform in front of it, forms the domain of each individual traveler, where he is completely secluded, as the apparent piazza is not open, but is composed of the front arches of each compartment. There is, however, in the center of one or more of the sides a large arched hall quite open in front... The cells are completely unfurnished, and generally have no light but from the door, and the traveler is usually seen in the recess in front of his apartment except during the heat of the day....

"Many of these caravanserais have no stables, the cattle of the travelers being accommodated in the open area; but in the more complete establishments... there are... spacious stables, formed of covered avenues extending between the back wall of the lodging apartments and the outer wall of the whole building, the entrance being at one or more of the corners of the inner quadrangle. The stable is on the same level with the court, and thus below the level of the living quarters which stand on the raised platform. Nevertheless, this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench.... It also often happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, forming a more or less narrow platform along its extent, but also recesses corresponding to these in front of the cells toward the open area, and formed, in fact, by the side-walls of these cells being allowed to project behind to the boundary of the platform. These, though small and shallow, form convenient retreats for servants and mule drivers in bad weather.

"... Such a recess we suppose that Joseph and Mary occupied, with their ass or mule—if they had one, as they perhaps did—tethered in front.... It might be made quite private by a cloth being stretched across the lower part."

It may be remarked that the fact that Joseph and Mary were in that place, and obliged to take their lodgings there, was in itself no proof of poverty; it was a simple matter of necessity—there was no room at the inn.

Yet it is worthy of our consideration that Jesus was born poor. He did not inherit a princely estate. He was not cradled, as many are, in a palace. He had no rich friends. He had virtuous, pious parents, of more value to a child than many riches.

And in this we are shown that it is no dishonor to be poor. Happy is that child who, whether his parents are rich or poor, has a pious father and mother. It does not matter if he does not have as much wealth, as fine clothes, or as splendid a house as another. It is enough for him to be as Jesus was, and God will bless him.

No room at the inn. Many people assembled to be enrolled, and the tavern was filled before Joseph and Mary arrived.

The same country. Around Bethlehem.

Shepherds. Men who tended flocks of sheep.

Abiding in the field. Remaining out of doors, under the open sky, with their flocks. This was commonly done. The climate was mild, and, to keep their flocks from straying, they spent the night with them. It is also a fact that the Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions during the summer months, and took them up in the latter part of October or the first of November, when the cold weather began.

While away in these deserts and mountainous regions, it was proper that someone should attend them to keep them from straying and from the ravages of wolves and other wild beasts. It is probable from this that our Saviour was born before the 25th of December, or before what we call Christmas.

At that time it is cold, and especially in the high and mountainous regions around Bethlehem. But the exact time of his birth is unknown; there is no way to ascertain it. By different learned men it has been fixed at each month in the year. Nor is it of consequence to know the time; if it were, God would have preserved the record of it. Matters of moment are clearly revealed; those which he regards as of no importance are concealed.

Keeping watch, etc. More literally, "tending their flocks by turns through the night watches."