please explain to me why luke places jesus's birth during the time of the syrian census in 6 AD while mathew

Question

places his birth during the reign of king harod which ended in 4BC? this is almost a full decade difference. why such a difference in the time frame?

Answer 1

Luke 2:1 tells of a decree from Caesar Augustus to have the whole "world" (oikoumene actually means all the world under the authority of Rome enrolled in a census report for taxation purposes Verse 2 specifies which census taking was involved at the time Joseph and Mary went down to Bethlehem, to fill out the census forms as descendants of the Bethlehemite family of King David. This was the first census undertaken by Quirinius (or "Cyrenius") as governor (or at least as acting governor) of Syria. Josephus mentions no census in the reign of Herod the Great (who died in 4 B.C) but he does mention one taken by "Cyrenius" (Antiquities 17.13.5) soon after Herod Archelaus was deposed in A.D. 6: "Cyrenius, one that had been consul, was sent by Caesar to take account of people's effects in Syria, and to sell the house of Archelaus." (Apparently the palace of the deposed king was to be sold and the proceeds turned over to the Roman government.)

If Luke dates the census in 8 or 7 B.C. and if Josephus dates it in A.D. 6 or 7, there appears to be a discrepancy of about fourteen years. Also, since Saturninus (according to Tertullian in Contra Marcion 4.19) was legate of Syria from 9 B.C. to 6 B.C., and Quintilius Varus was legate from 7 B.C. to A.D. 4 (note the one-year overlap in these two terms!), there is doubt as to whether Quirinius was ever governor of Syria at all.

By way of solution, let it be noted first of all that Luke says this was a "first" enrollment that took place under Quirinius (haute apographe prote egeneto). A "first" surely implies a second one sometime later. Luke was therefore well aware of that second census, taken by Quirinius again in A.D. 7, which Josephus alludes to in the passage cited above. We know this because Luke (who lived much closer to the time than Josephus did) also quotes Gamaliel as alluding to the insurrection of Judas of Galilee "in the days of the census taking" (Acts 5:37). Th Romans tended to conduct a census every fourteen years, and so this comes out right for a first census in 7 B.C. and a second in A.D. 7.

Answer 2

Luke & Mathew were written by different people long after the actual events. Most of the New Testament wasn't written about 300 years after the fact. Prior to that the stories were passed down by oral tradition, which is easy to get details mixed up (did you ever play the game "telephone" as a kid?). Different sects of early Christianity used different texts in their teachings until the council of Nicea (sp?) got together & voted on which text to keep in one consolidated volume that would be the universal text for all Christianity. There were whole books about things that the church deemed wrong to put in the Bible, but that were taught before. Ever wonder why you don't hear anything about Jesus during his adolecent years.... it's not that the book wasn't written, the church just didn't like some things that were implied so they VOTED it out. I don't mean to discredit the Bible, it is still a good book, but for those who think it is the literal word of God....no, it was written by a bunch of guys & edited by a bunch of other guys, so there is some inconsistancy.

Answer 3

I'd like to compare these two Gospels to other "apocryphal" Gospels and see what dates they reference.

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Answer 4

This is an example of minor errors in the bible. It does not impact on the theology of the bible which is inspired.

Answer 5

According to whom?

Answer 6

Hmmmmmm. will have to give that a study.

Answer 7

I'm looking forward to what they're going to come up with this time...

What, no one can answer?!

Answer 8

Easy - the bible is wrong.

Once again.

But apparently its infallibly wrong.

Answer 9

ask "someone who cares". I think he got it right.

Uh... yeah... what he said.