Luke's Gospel says that there was to be a census of the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Augustus. This occurred when Quirinius was Governor of Syria, and Joseph was required to go to the home town of his ancestors to be counted. This raises quite a number of puzzling issues for scholars:
- Quirinius only became governor of Syria in 6 CE, more than ten years after the death of King Herod. The first-century Jewish scholar, Josephus, confirms that the first Roman census in the near East was undertaken by Quirinius, no earlier than 6 CE.
- Historians can find no evidence that there was ever a census of the entire empire during the reign of Augustus.
- King Herod had nominal autonomy, ruling over both Galilee and Judea, which included Bethlehem. He raised his own taxes and therefore his territory would not have been included in any Roman census, especially a census for the purpose of assessing taxes.
- Even if there had been such a census, Joseph would have been taxed in Galilee, so there would have been no reason for him to go to Bethlehem.
- Matthew's Gospel says nothing of a census, and even talks of Bethlehem as the home town of Mary and Joseph. In this Gospel, they did not travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem at all.
There seems to be no logical reason for Joseph and Mary to be counted or taxed in Bethlehem. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately. Neverthless, this census is given by Luke as the reason for Jesus not being born in Nazareth.
