4. Enrolments Probably Inaugurated by Augustus.
Another papyrus contains a list of people who were exempt from poll-tax in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus.[612] As the poll-tax was intimately connected with the census, it is altogether probable that the census was inaugurated by Augustus. As he became emperor in 27 B. C. and at once proceeded to organize his empire, the census may have begun early in his reign. If there was one in 20 A. D. there would be one in 6 A. D., 9-8 B. C., and possibly in 23-22 B. C. If there was not one in 23-22, that in 9-8 B. C. would be the first. This is the one to which reference is made in Luke 2:2. If the birth of Jesus occurred at the time of this census, it must have been earlier than we usually suppose. Ramsay thinks that the taking of the census in Judah may have been delayed till 7 or 6 B. C., on account of Jewish prejudices.
5. Document Showing that People Went to Their Own Towns for Enrolment.
In connection with the census of Quirinius it is stated in Luke 2:3: “All went to enroll themselves, every one to his own city.” This has been felt by many scholars to be an improbable statement, and has been cited as an evidence of the unhistorical character of the whole story of the census in Luke. In this connection part of a papyrus discovered in Egypt, which is dated in the 7th year of the Emperor Trajan, 103-104 A. D., is of great interest. This document contains three letters. The third of the letters is the one which relates to our subject. It is as follows:[613]
Gaius Vibius, chief prefect of Egypt. Because of the approaching census it is necessary that all those residing for any cause away from their own homes, should at once prepare to return to their own governments, in order that they may complete the family administration of the enrolment, and that the tilled lands may retain those belonging to them. Knowing that your city has need of provisions from the country, I wish .......... (At this point the papyrus becomes too fragmentary for connected translation.)
It is perfectly clear that in Egypt the enrolment was done on the basis of kinship. The word rendered “family” above [συνήθη] means “kindred” in the larger sense. The phrase rendered “belonging to” [them, i. e., the tilled lands] also means “kindred.” It appears, then, that in Egypt the enrolment of each district was intended to include all the kinsmen belonging to that district, and that, lest those residing elsewhere should forget to return home for the census, proclamations were issued directing them to do so. It is well known that in many respects the customs of administration in Syria and Egypt were similar. Luke’s statement, that Joseph went up from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to enroll himself with Mary (Luke 2:4, 5), turns out to be in exact accord with the governmental regulations as we now know them from the papyri.
6. Inscription Supposed to Refer to Quirinius.
A fragmentary inscription found at Rome in 1828 is thought by Mommsen and others to prove that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, and that the governorship to which Josephus refers (Antiquities, XVII, i, 1), which was coincident with the deposition of Archelaus in 6 A. D., was his second appointment. The inscription as filled out by Mommsen and others reads:[614]
[P. Sulpicius Quirinius, consul ..........; as proconsul obtained Crete and Cyrene as a province ..........; as legate of the divine Augustus, obtaining Syria and Phœnicia he waged war with the tribe of Homonadenses who had killed Amyntas the k]ing; when he returned into the domi[nion of the Emperor Cæsar] Augustus and the Roman people, the senate [decreed] thanksgivings [to the immortal gods] on account of the two success[ful accomplishments] and triumphal ornaments to him; as proconsul he ob[tained] Asia as a province; as the legate of the divine Augustus he [obtained] again Syria and Phœnicia.
If this inscription were intact its evidence would be decisive, but unfortunately it is only a fragment, and the name of Quirinius is just that which has to be supplied from other inscriptions. That so eminent a scholar as Mommsen thought that this name was the one which once began the inscription is of weight, but it does not compensate for the loss of the name.