VICTIMS
OF ROMAN OPPRESSION AND TAXATION
Each year around Christmas time,
we hear a lot of talk of Joseph and Mary, the first family of the Bible, being
either homeless or refugees. The purveyors of this social justice
misinformation assume that Christians do not read the Bible and thus, know the
Gospel Truth! How can anyone read the following and come to the conclusion that
(the then-baby) Jesus and His earthly parents were homeless and/or refugees is
sophistry.
The underlying basis of this
untruth is the inability of Joseph, the caretaker guardian parent of the
yet-unborn Jesus Christ to find lodging in Bethlehem for his very pregnant
wife, Mary and himself.
Luke 2:1-7:
And it came to pass in those
days that a decree went out from
Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census
first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city
of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of
David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it
was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be
delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in
swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn.
In fact, if anything, Joseph,
Mary and Jesus and all who were forced to travel many miles for a census for
taxation purposes, were victims of an unaccountable occupying government!
Secular history has borne out the
following facts:
- Quirinius, the Roman
Consul and decorated soldier WAS the overseer of Syria when the Roman Emperor
Caesar Augustus called for a census. He later became the governor there. The
secular historian Josephus and Roman official documents confirmed this.
- The Census unfortunately caused hardship to
a lot of poorer people who had to find their way back to the towns of their
birth to be counted in the census. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21) was the assessor of
property....or the chief Tax Commissioner for the Romans in Syria and Judea!
This taxation was so heavy that it created the zealot movement, of which Judas
Iscariot was a part. Censuses were forbidden for the Jews and many Christians
will recall what happened when King David disobeyed God. David called for a
census in his older days, after God had forgiven him of adultery and murder.
This census resulted in thousands killed for David's mistake. Jews remembered
that census well, even though it was almost 900 years after the fact!
- The Census was taken that all the known
Roman world should be taxed (Luke 2:1 KJV).This tax was area wide across
the entire conquered Roman Empire as they needed funds to continue the
expansion of their military conquests. The great Jewish historian Josephus, who
was friends with the Apostle James wrote the following, from his history of the
Jewish people (commissioned by Rome. Josephus wrote: "So Archelaus's country
was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was
sent by Caesar to take account of people's effects in Syria. Cyrenius came
himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an
account of their substance." - Josephus
- Antiquities of the Jews - Book 18
- Bethlehem is 7-8 miles south of Jerusalem
(still is). Travel for the Census had to have been done in good weather,
most likely in late September. Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus
back to the Temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised eight days after he was born
and their part in the census was over. Josephus wrote that over 6000 pharisees
refused to obey the Census rules to return to their birth town, and were
heavily fined.
Will the facts get in the way of
the continued misuse of this temporarily transient couple’s plight for
political purposes? Not really. As for the rest of the story, as the great
raconteur Paul Harvey used to say, it would appear that after Jesus fulfilled
the Torah command on the 8th day
in Jerusalem. Then, after that the couple returned to Bethlehem for almost two
years. This is where the Persian Magi found them, following the Star of
Bethlehem. Here is also where Herod committed the atrocity of having all baby
boys age 2 and under murdered to prevent one of them from becoming King of
Jerusalem.
God, the Father, was way ahead of
the evil Herod. God had Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt to avoid this horrible
genocide. Jesus returned with Joseph and His earthly mother Mary, to live as a
carpenter in Nazareth, until He began His ministry at age 30. The rest of His
Story….as well as history is written in the Scriptures. The Scriptures,
confirmed increasingly by archaeological finds and the Faith of billions over
2000 years, reveal that Jesus the Christ, is indeed the Savior of the world.
The Holy Spirit testifies to this solid fact, in the hearts of all true
believers.
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