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V. BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST.
Chapter v.
BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST.
[Luke 2, 1–7.]
IN those days a decree went forth from the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus[1], commanding that all the people of the empire should be enrolled. Each one had to give in his name “in his won city,”[2] i. e. in the tribe and city to which he belonged. So
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Fig. 63. Bethlehem. (Phot. Bruno Hentschel, Leipzig)
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem[3] (Fig. 63), the city of David, because they were of the family of that king.
- ↑ Augustus. He was ruler of the vast empire to which Judaea now belonged (Old Test. LXXXVI). Herod was not an independent sovereign, but governed in the name of the Roman emperor, to whom he had to pay part of the taxes as tribute. The enrolment of the subjects of the empire had, therefore, to take place in Judaea as well as elsewhere; and, according to the Jewish custom, it was made by tribes and families.
- ↑ In his own city. i. e. the town where his family originated, and in which the public register was kept.
- ↑ Bethlehem. Bethlehem was the town to which David had belonged (Old Test. L), and as Mary and Joseph were descended from him, their names had to
