The birth of Christ and what we have always understood to be fact. Calling all historians........

[Rella ~ I am a woman]

I had always been taught, and came to believe biblically the following.............................

WE ALL know Luke's accounting of this.

2 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all [a]the inhabited earth. 2 [b]This was the first census taken while [c]Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a [d]manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Mathew 2 tells us...

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, [a]magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

The Holy bible is never wrong> That is a fact????????????

The quotes are clipped for size

Britannica tells us...

Herod | Biography, Facts, Reign, Temple, & Jesus

Herod, Roman-appointed king of Judea (37-4 BCE), who built many fortresses, aqueducts, theaters, and other public buildings but who was the center of political and family intrigues in his later years. The New Testament portrays him as a tyrant, into whose kingdom Jesus of Nazareth was born.

www.britannica.com

Herod, byname Herod the Great, Latin Herodes Magnus, (born 73 BCE—died March/April, 4 BCE, Jericho, Judaea), Roman-appointed king of Judaea (37–4 BCE), who built many fortresses, aqueducts, theatres, and other public buildings and generally raised the prosperity of his land but who was the centre of political and family intrigues in his later years. The New Testament portrays him as a tyrant, into whose kingdom Jesus of Nazareth was born.

We also know that the Magi came seeking Jesus and inquired of King Herod. Herod the Great. As is told in Mathew 2.

The jury is still out on when Herod the Great died.

Wiki tells us Herod the Great (c. 72 BCE – c. 4 BCE) that it was 4BCE (There was a partial eclipse)

This is countered by Herod’s Death, Jesus’ Birth and a Lunar Eclipse who says

Both Luke and Matthew mention Jesus’ birth as occurring during Herod’s reign (Luke 1:5; Matthew 2:1). Josephus relates Herod’s death to a lunar eclipse. This is generally regarded as a reference to a lunar eclipse in 4 B.C. Therefore it is often said that Jesus was born in 4 B.C.

But physics professor John A. Cramer, in a letter to BAR, has pointed out that there was another lunar eclipse visible in Judea—in fact, two—in 1 B.C., which would place Herod’s death—and Jesus’ birth—

Does it matter? Not really. Not for this. (Just to set a time line of sorts that Jesus had to have been born 1BC up to 4BC as the Wise Men came to see Herod about Him and he was still alive.

Luke... we have been told they went to register for a census....
Caesar Augustus, ordered it and Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Wiki posts~ Census of Quirinius - Wikipedia

The Census of Quirinius was a census of the Roman province of Judaea taken in 6 CE, upon its formation, by the governor of Roman Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius.

6CE was long after the death of Herod ... We know that Herod was alive when Jesus was born according to the Wisemen.

Contrary to the Gospel of Matthew, which places Jesus's birth in the time of Herod I,[6] the Gospel of Luke (2:1–5) correlates it with the census:

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Scholars point out that there was no single census of the entire Roman Empire under Augustus and the Romans did not directly tax client kingdoms; further, no Roman census required that people travel from their own homes to those of their ancestors. A census of Judaea would not have affected Joseph and his family, who lived in Galilee under a different ruler; the revolt of Judas of Galilee suggests that Rome's direct taxation of Judaea was new at the time.[15] Catholic priest and biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown postulates that Judas's place of origin may have led the author of Luke to think that Galilee was subject to the census, although the region is clearly distinguished from Judaea elsewhere in the gospel.[16][17] Brown also points out that in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke the Evangelist (the traditional author of both books) dates Judas's census-incited revolt as following Theudas's rebellion of four decades later.[16]

So................................ if Luke got it wrong What else did he get wrong?

In The Census that Brought Our Lord to Bethlehem

St. Luke places the birth of Jesus within the reign of Herod the Great (1:5). But Quirinius was not governor of Syria while Herod the Great ruled. So, how could he have run a census during the reign of Herod, during which Jesus was born?

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote i

FAQ: Can You Explain the Problem with the Census in the Gospel of Luke's Story of the Birth of Jesus?

I frequently receive questions about the census mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. Specifically, people ask about the problematic nature of this census with regard to its historicity and to the fact that it doesn't align so well with the birth narrative offered in Matthew's Gospel. First, know that

bam.sites.uiowa.edu

There are a couple of problems with the census.

First, Quirinius and Herod the Great did not rule at the same time. Herod the Great died in 4 BCE. (If that fact alone causes you some hesitation—the fact that Jesus must have been born 4 to 7 years "before Christ" (BC)— please read my 2009 article, Why Christians Should Adopt the BCE/CE Dating System, which explains why this is the case.) Anyway, Herod the Great died in 4 BCE, and yet Publius Sulpicius Quirinius wasn’t appointed as the governor of Syria until 6 CE, that is, well after Herod the Great died and after Herod’s son and successor, Archelaus, was banished as ruler of Judea.



At the very least, there's a historical mistake recorded in the Bible. Either Luke wrote down the name of the wrong governor, or there was no census. Luke used the census as a literary device to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem of Judea so that Jesus of Nazareth, would be born in Bethlehem. But we'll come back to that problem in a second.

There is a second problem with the census in Luke 2. Simply put, Romans did not require subjects to return to their ancestral homes to be counted, rather, they made them return to their present homes. To explain this, I’ll refer you to what I wrote on pg. 230 of my 2016 book, The Cities That Built the Bible:

So just what Mary and Joseph traveling for? Maybe a get a way before being tied down with a kid?