(1) And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (2) (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) (3) And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. (4) And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) (5) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. (6) And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. (7) And she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
The Evangelist hath thought proper to note the reign of Cesar Augustus, and also to distinguish a striking circumstance of the very period when the taxing the persons, (not their property), first began: both which were important, to mark the era of the birth of Christ. First, in confirmation of Daniel's prophecy, which declared, that in the days of the fourth great monarchy, the God of heaven should set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed. And, secondly, Micah declared the town of Bethlehem was the place where Christ should be born. See Daniel 2:44-45; Micah 5:2. Now the Roman kingdom, under which Christ after the flesh was born, was the fourth from the Babylonish captivity, that is the time of Daniel's prophecy. And but for the enrolling the names of the subjects of this empire, humanly speaking, nothing could have brought Mary, a poor young woman, betrothed to a poor carpenter, working for his daily bread, from Galilee to Bethlehem, for this purpose. So the Lord over-ruled these events; and so the Evangelist therefore hath recorded them. And as this taxing implied, the complete government the Roman empire had obtained over Judea: the dying Jacob's prophecy was now fulfilled, and Christ was come. Genesis 49:10. The poverty of Christ's birth, corresponded to the object of his becoming incarnate. Cast out into a stable, formed a striking testimony, in correspondence with all that followed, that as he put himself in the state and circumstances of his Church, which he came to redeem, it was proper he should represent us here also, as in all other points: for we, by reason of sin, were cast out, as the prophet described, in the day we were born, and left to perish, but for the Lord passing by, and bidding us live. Ezekiel 16:4-6.