Luke 2:1-7
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the City of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): It came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus—By a sweet providence of God, that Christ might be born at Bethlehem, according to the Scriptures. Howbeit Augustus thought not so, as it is said in another case of Nebuchadnezzar, Isaiah 10:7, “He meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so.”
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): That which Augustus designed was either to gratify his pride in knowing the numbers of his people, and proclaiming it to the world, or he did it in policy, to strengthen his interest, and make his government appear the more formidable; but Providence had another reach in it. All the world shall be at the trouble of being enrolled, only that Joseph and Mary may—this brought them up from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, because they were of the stock and lineage of David, Luke 2:4,5.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Luke sets aside the idea of human contrivance, by saying, that Joseph and Mary had left home, and came to that place to make the return according to their family and tribe. If intentionally and on purpose they had changed their residence that Mary might bring forth her child in Bethlehem, we would have looked only at the human beings concerned. But as they have no other design than to obey the edict of Augustus, we readily acknowledge, that they were led like blind persons, by the hand of God, to the place where Christ must be born. This may appear to be accidental, as everything else which does not proceed from a direct human intention is ascribed by irreligious men to Fortune. But a comparison will clearly show it to have been accomplished by the wonderful Providence of God, that a registration was then enacted by Augustus Caesar, and that Joseph and Mary set out from home, so as to arrive in Bethlehem at this very point of time.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): The overruling providence of God appears in this simple fact. He orders all things in heaven and earth. He turns the hearts of kings whithersoever He will. He overruled the time when Augustus decreed the taxing. He directed the enforcement of the decree in such a way, that Mary must needs be at Bethlehem when “the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.” Little did the haughty Roman emperor, and his officer Cyrenius, think that they were only instruments in the hand of the God of Israel, and were only carrying out the eternal purposes of the King of kings.
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): The timing of affairs is an eminent part of the wisdom of God.
JOHN CALVIN: We must remember also the prediction which was uttered by the prophet many centuries before.
MATTHEW HENRY: Jesus was born when Judea was become a province of the empire, and tributary to it; as appears evidently by this, that when all the Roman empire was taxed, the Jews were taxed among the rest. Jerusalem was taken by Pompey the Roman general, about sixty years before this, who granted the government of the church to Hyrcanus, but not the government of the state; by degrees it was more and more reduced, till now at length it was quite subdued; for Judea was ruled by Cyrenius the Roman governor of Syria: Now just at this juncture, the Messiah was to be born, for so was dying Jacob’s prophecy, that Shiloh should come when the “sceptre was departed from Judah,” and the “lawgiver from between his feet,” Genesis 49:10. This was the first taxing that was made in Judea, the first badge of their servitude; therefore now Shiloh must come, to set up His kingdom.
JOHN CALVIN: Augustus orders a registration to take place in Judea, and each person to give his name, that they may afterwards pay an annual tax, which they were formerly accustomed to pay to God. Thus an ungodly man takes forcible possession of that which God was accustomed to demand from His people. It was, in effect, reducing the Jews to entire subjection, and forbidding them to be thenceforth reckoned as the people of God.
J. C. RYLE: Let us notice, secondly, the place where Christ was born. It was not at Nazareth of Galilee, where His mother Mary lived.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Jerusalem was not the Saviour’s birthplace, nor was it one of the prominent towns of Palestine; instead, it was in a small village! The Holy Spirit has called particular attention to this point in one of the leading Messianic prophecies.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): This passage connects very definitely with a prophecy which was given some 700 years before the events took place, which is found in the fifth chapter of the book of Micah. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel,” Micah 5:2.
A. W. PINK: How startlingly the sovereignty of God was displayed in that momentous event…How different are God’s thoughts and ways from man’s! How He despises what we most esteem, and honours that which we look down upon. One of the most insignificant of all places was chosen by God to be the scene of the most stupendous of all events.
JOHN CALVIN: Nor is the Providence of God less wonderful in employing the mandate of a tyrant to draw Mary from home, that the prophecy may be fulfilled. God had marked out by His prophet the place where He determined that His Son should be born. If Mary had not been constrained to do otherwise, she would have chosen to bring forth her child at home. Thus we see that the holy servants of God, even though they wander from their design, unconscious where they are going, still keep the right path, because God directs their steps.
A. W. PINK: There is a wonderful order in all God’s works, an all-wise timing of the divine actions. Not that the Almighty is hampered or hindered by finite creatures of the dust, but that His wondrous ways may be the more admired by those who are granted spirituality to discern them. “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints,” Revelation 15:3.
MATTHEW HENRY: See how man purposes and God disposes; and how Providence orders all things for the fulfilling of the scripture, and makes use of the projects men have for serving their own purposes, quite beyond their intention, to serve His.
J. C. RYLE: The heart of a believer should take comfort in the recollection of God’s providential government of the world. A true Christian should never be greatly moved or disquieted by the conduct of the rulers of the earth. He should see with the eye of faith a hand overruling all that they do to the praise and glory of God. He should regard every king and potentate as a creature who, with all his power, can do nothing but what God allows, and nothing which is not carrying out God’s will. And when the rulers of this world “set themselves against the Lord,” he should take comfort in the words of Solomon, “There be higher than they,’ Ecclesiastes 5:8.
