Luke2:2

1: “Governor of Syria”

According to Edersheim, such a census or registration would have been most repugnant to all Jews. David got himself and the whole country in trouble with God for ordering a census that God had not ordered. Here it was a wicked, foreign ruler who was ordering this census so he could tax them more heavily. If the Gospel accounts were invented and not real, the inclusion of such an event would make no sense. However, Luke includes it in order to highlight the situation into which Jesus came, one of a people stirred up, riled up, angered and not happy to comply. While most of the Roman Empire was now peaceful, Judea remained a hot spot. In other areas, even if the people were not happy about Roman rule, they were unwilling to fight back. A significant percentage of Jews remained defiant and combative. Any ruler assigned to Judea knew he had trouble on his hands.

However, there is a problem with this census. Quirinius’s rule as governor of Syria did not start till 10 or 12 years later. This has caused some scholars to suggest that Luke made a mistake. We should never be quick to make such an accusation for Luke was much closer to the situation than we are. The Greek phrase in question uses a participle that can be translated in two primary ways, “by Quirinius, the governor of Syria,” or “when the one governing Syria was Quirinius.” Said participle is being used to place the emphasis on the person’s identity, i.e. governor; does it also intend to establish the timing of the census? Of several resolutions presented, Dr. Lardner’s seems to be the best; he says that Luke was calling Quirinius by the title he was later known by, so as to not confuse him with other men by that name. This means that the Emperor sent Quirinius to be in charge of the census in that troublesome spot called Judea, and because he did a good job (i.e. he was ruthless) he was promoted and later became governor of the Roman province called Syria. Because he had shown that he knew how to handle the Jews, Judea was then made a holding of Syria. When Luke wrote his account of the life of Jesus and sent it to Theophilus, the latter knew Quirinius as the man who was or had been the governor of Syria, but may not have known him as the one who took that census. We conclude then that Luke got the identity of the man correct; he did not choose to go into details about the timing issues because they were irrelevant to this story.