What year was the census when Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem?

A:

We have some good information about the census of Quirinius, particularly from the first-century Jewish historian, Josephus. The census which took place after the Romans deposed Archelaus in Judea appears to have been the first Roman census in Judea:

"Quirinius, a Roman senator who had proceeded through all the magistracies to the consulship and a man who was extremely distinguished in other respects, arrived in Syria, dispatched by Caesar [Augustus] to be governor of the nation and to make an assessment of their property. Coponius, a man of equestrian rank was sent along with him to rule over the Jews with full authority. Quirinius also visited Judea, which had been annexed to Syria, in order to make an assessment of the property of the Jews and to liquidate the estate of Archelaus. (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XVIII, i, 1)."

Josephus gives us the date of this census:

"Quirinius had now liquidated the estate of Archelaus; and by this time the registrations of property that took place in the thirty-seventh year after Caesar's defeat of Antony at Actium were complete. Since the high priest Joazar had now been overpowered by a popular faction, Quirinius stripped him of the dignity of his office (Josephus, JA , XVIII, ii, 1)." The battle of Actium took place in 31 BCE, so the census took place in the year 6 CE, ten years after the death of King Herod the Great.

If Jesus was born during the census of Quirinius, he could not have been born during the reign of King Herod the Great. Because of this, some have suggested that there must have been an earlier Roman census in Judea, although in the time of King Herod and his successor Archelaus, the kingdom was exempt from Roman taxes. However, the mention of the name Caponius confirms this as the first Roman census in Judea, as there a violent clash during his rule because the Jews were objecting to the innovation of a census requirement.

According to Roman law, the tax declarations had to be made in the town where the taxpayer resided or, in the case of real estate, in the town where the property was. If Joseph had no real estate, then as an inhabitant of Galilee under the tetrarch Herod Antipas, he would not have been affected by the order of the Syrian governor Quirinius. Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) points out that he would only have had to attend the census if he owned property in Bethlehem, which suggests a level of wealth quite at odds with the image of a poor village carpenter and at odds with the story of having nowhere to stay in Bethlehem, since he could have stayed with a tenant farmer or manager.

We know that such assessments did not take place on a fixed date, but were stretched over a period of weeks and even months. Joseph could have arrived in Bethlehem at almost any time during the year that suited him, inspected his properties and reported to the census taker, then returned to his home in Galilee. The story of Joseph hurrying to Bethlehem with his heavily pregnant wife does not fit reality. This is borne out by the fact that the author of Matthew knew nothing about a census ordered by Augustus. Historically, the census took place in 6 CE, but many scholars say there is no basis for Joseph and Mary going from Galilee to Bethlehem for that census.