SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:1
¶ Y aconteci en aquellos días que sali edicto de parte de Augusto Csar, que toda la tierra fuese empadronada.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Luke 2:1
Verse 1. Caesar Augustus] This was Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, who was proclaimed emperor of Rome in the 29th year before our Lord, and died A.D. 14. That all the world should be taxed.] pasan thn oikoumenhn, the whole of that empire. It is agreed, on all hands, that this cannot mean the whole world, as in the common translation; for this very sufficient reason, that the Romans had not the dominion of the whole earth, and therefore could have no right to raise levies or taxes in those places to which their dominion did not extend. oikoumenh signifies properly the inhabited part of the earth, from oikew, to dwell, or inhabit. Polybius makes use of the very words in this text to point out the extent of the Roman government, lib. vi. c. 48; and Plutarch uses the word in exactly the same sense, Pomp.
p. 635. See the passages in Wetstein. Therefore the whole that could be meant here, can be no more than that a general CENSUS of the inhabitants and their effects had been made in the reign of Augustus, through all the Roman dominions.
But as there is no general census mentioned in any historian as having taken place at this time, the meaning of oikoumenh must be farther restrained, and applied solely to the land of Judea. This signification it certainly has in this same evangelist, chap. xxi. 26. Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, th oikoumenh this land. The whole discourse relates to the calamities that were coming, not upon the whole world, nor the whole of the Roman empire, but on the land of Judea, see chap. xxi. 21. Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains. Out of Judea, therefore, there would be safety; and only those who should be with child, or giving suck, in those days, are considered as peculiarly unhappy, because they could not flee away from that land on which the scourge was to fall: for the wrath, or punishment, shall be, says our Lord, en tw law toutw, ON THIS VERY PEOPLE, viz. the Jews, chap. xxi. 23. It appears that St. Luke used this word in this sense in conformity to the Septuagint, who have applied it in precisely the same way, Isa. xiii. 11; xiv. 26; xxiv. 1. And from this we may learn, that the word oikoumenh had been long used as a term by which the land of Judea was commonly expressed. h gh, which signifies the earth, or world in general, is frequently restrained to this sense, being often used by the evangelists and others for all the country of Judea. See chap. iv. 25; Josh. ii. 3.
It is probable that the reason why this enrolment, or census, is said to have been throughout the whole Jewish nation, was to distinguish it from that partial one, made ten years after, mentioned Acts v. 37, which does not appear to have extended beyond the estates of Archelaus, and which gave birth to the insurrection excited by Judas of Galilee. See Josephus, Ant.
book xx. c. 3.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in those days , etc.] When John the Baptist was born, and Christ was conceived, and his mother pregnant with him, and the time of his birth drew on. The Ethiopic version reads, in that day; as if it was the same day in which John was circumcised, and Zacharias delivered the above song of praise: that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus; second emperor of Rome; the name Caesar was common to all the emperors, as Pharaoh to the Egyptians, and afterwards Ptolemy. His name Augustus, was not his original surname, but Thurinus; and was given him, after he became Caesar, to express his grandeur, majesty, and reverence; and that by the advice of Munatius Plancus, when others would have had him called Romulus, as if he was the founder of the city of Rome f96 : by him a decree was made and published, that all the world should be taxed ; or registered, or enrolled; for this was not levying a tax, or imposing tribute upon them, but a taking an account of the names of persons, and of their estates; and which might be, in order to lay a tax upon them, as afterwards was: for the payment of a tax, there was no need of the appearance of women and children; and so the Arabic version renders it, that the names the whole habitable world might be described, or written down: such an enrolment had been determined on by Augustus, when at Tarracon in Spain, twenty seven years before; but he was diverted from it by some disturbances in the empire, so that it was deferred to this time, in which there was a remarkable interposition of divine providence; for had this enrolment been made then, in all likelihood it had not been done now, and Joseph and Mary would not have had occasion to have come to Bethlehem: but so it must be; and thus were things ordered by an infinite, and all wise providence to effect it: nor did this enrolment reach to all the parts of the known world, but only to the Roman empire; which, because it was so very large as it was, and in the boasting language of the Romans was so called, as, Ptolemy Evergetes f97 calls his kingdom, kosmov , the world. Though some think only the land of Judea is meant, which is called the earth, in ( Luke 21:26) and all the world, in ( Acts 11:28) but the other sense seems more agreeable; and so the Syriac version renders it, that all the people of his empire might be enrolled: and the Persic version, that they should enrol all the subjects of his kingdom; and is justified by the use of the phrase for the Roman empire, in several passages of Scripture, ( Romans 1:8 10:18 Revelation 3:10 13:3). Now at the time of this enrolment, and under this august emperor, and when the whole world was in a profound peace, was the Messiah born, the King of kings, and the only potentate; the Shiloh, the peaceable and prosperous, the Prince of Peace, and Lord of life and glory; and that, in order to redeem men from that worse subjection and bondage they were in to sin, Satan, the law, and death, than they were to the Roman emperor. The Jews say f98 , the son of David shall not come, until the kingdom (of Edom, or Rome, as some copies read, in others it is erased) shall be extended over all Israel, nine months, according to ( Micah 5:3). The gloss on it is, that is, all the world, in which the Israelites are scattered.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-7 - The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances of his birt were very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn here for awhile, as at an inn, and to teach us to do likewise We are become by sin like an outcast infant, helpless and forlorn; an such a one was Christ. He well knew how unwilling we are to be meanl lodged, clothed, or fed; how we desire to have our children decorate and indulged; how apt the poor are to envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by faith view the Son of God being made man and lying in a manger, our vanity, ambition, and env are checked. We cannot, with this object rightly before us, seek grea things for ourselves or our children.
Greek Textus Receptus
εγενετο 1096 5633 V-2ADI-3S δε 1161 CONJ εν 1722 PREP ταις 3588 T-DPF ημεραις 2250 N-DPF εκειναις 1565 D-DPF εξηλθεν 1831 5627 V-2AAI-3S δογμα 1378 N-NSN παρα 3844 PREP καισαρος 2541 N-GSM αυγουστου 828 N-GSM απογραφεσθαι 583 5729 V-PEN πασαν 3956 A-ASF την 3588 T-ASF οικουμενην 3625 N-ASF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. Decree (dogma). Wyc., mandment. From dokew, to think. Hence, strictly, a personal opinion; and, as the opinion of one who can impose his opinion authoritatively on others, a decree.The world (thn oikoumenhn). Lit., the inhabited (land). The phrase was originally used by the Greek s to denote the land inhabited by themselves, in contrast with barbarian countries; afterward, when the Greek s became subject to the Romans, the entire Roman world; still later, for the whole inhabited world. In the New Testament this latter is the more common usage, though, in some cases, this is conceived in the mould of the Roman empire, as in this passage, Acts xi. 28; xix. 27. Christ uses it in the announcement that the Gospel shall be preached in all theworld (Matthew xxiv. 14); and Paul in the prediction of a general judgment (Acts xvii. 31). Once it is used of the world to come (Hebrew ii. 5).
Be taxed (apografesqai). The word means properly to register or enter in a list. Commentators are divided as to whether it refers to an enrollment for taxation, or for ascertaining the population. Rev., enrolled, which may be taken in either sense.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:1 {Decree from Caesar Augustus} (dogma para kaisaros augoustou). Old and common word from dokew, to think, form an opinion. No such decree was given by Greek or Roman historians and it was for long assumed by many scholars that Luke was in error. But papyri and inscriptions have confirmed Luke on every point in these crucial verses #2:1-7. See W.M. Ramsay's books (_Was Christ Born at Bethelehem?_ _Luke the Physician_. _The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the N.T._). {The World} (ten oikoumenen). Literally, {the inhabited} ({land}, gn). Inhabited by the Greeks, qen by the Romans, qen the whole world (Roman world, the world ruled by Rome). So #Ac 11:28; 17:6. {Should be enrolled} (apografesqai). It was a census, not a taxing, though taxing generally followed and was based on the census. this word is very old and common. It means to write or copy off for the public records, to register.
