Strange Story: The Birth of Jesus Part 7 A Census
It was repugnant to the Jews that anyone would take a census of their people without direct instruction from God. When King David did that, there was punishment. This one was even worse because it was demanded by a foreign ruler. Everyone knew that every census was for the purpose of taxation or conscription into the army. In this case the Romans would not have accepted Jews into the army to fight against fellow Jews, but they could be required to serve on war ships as oarsmen, or in forced labor, or some other undesirable task. All of this came together to cause plenty of grumbling and complaining as people made their way to their “hometown.”
This census seems to have been a combination of the Jewish method for taking a census, which was based on family lines, and the Roman way which was based on place of birth or residence. It was a compromise made by the Romans in order to appease the Jews a little bit. It didn’t help. It was repugnant and repulsive to them no matter what method was used to carry it out.
Because of the angry response by the Jewish people, we can be sure that the Roman military presence was more prominent than usual. Roman Soldiers were everywhere, especially in and around Jerusalem.
It was in the midst of such tension that “Up” was required to travel to “the House of Bread.” Besides the loss of work and the expenses of the trip, he had to go prepared to pay a tax on the day he was written into the record. So he took all the money he had, which was not much, and he took his most useful tools. Maybe he could find work in that area if his wife’s condition required that they stay there a while.
What’s more, the time of this census was terrible for them personally. “Reb” was getting close to her expected time of delivery. They could arrive before the expected date was upon them, but he hoped the journey would not cause problems for her or the child she carried.
To navigate to Part 8 of this story click on The Birth of Jesus Part 8 The Journey.