The Living New Testament….. Luke 2: 1; About this time Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the nation. Luke 2: 2; this census was taken when Quirinius was “hegemon” in Syria. Luke 2: 3; Everyone was required to return to his ancestral home for this ‘REGISTATION.”
RSV…… 2: 1; In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be ENROLLED. Luke 2: 2; This was the first ENROLLMENT, when Quirinius was “hegemon” in Syria.
Luke does not specifically state what the Roman office held by Quirinius actually was when the first registration or enrolment was made in Judaea in 6 B.C. But in reference to the position he held, Luke uses the Greek word “hegemoneuontos tes Surias Kureniou.’ “hegemon,” Which the authors of the English bible have translated “Governor.” Such as Luke 3: 1; Where it is written in most English Bibles, that Pontius Pilate was “Governor” of Judea, whereas Tacitus speaks of Pontius Pilate as the “Procurator.”
Likewise, Luke’s reference to Felix, has been translated as ‘Governor’ of Caesarea, in Acts 23:24; also verses 26 and 33, then again in Acts 24: 1, and verse 10 and also Acts 26: 30.
A procurator is an agent having power of attorney or a Roman official acting as a financial agent of the Emperor or the administrator of a minor province.
[Wikipedia]…….”Marcus Antonius Felix was the
Roman procurator of Judaea, in succession to
Ventidius Cumanus.” So the word “hegemon,” used by Luke, could apply to any Roman official holding a leading position of authority, such as procurator, Vicegerent or Governor in any of the Roman provinces, including Syria.
Around the year of 6 B. C., the Governors of Galatia and Syria were involved in the construction of a system of military roads and garrison cities. They had a major problem. The Homonadenses had taken control of a Roman client nation located in the Taurus mountains which traversed the centre of these operations. Syria and Galatia would normally be required to intervene but Galatia had no army and Varus had no military experience. Whereas Quirinius was a general and famous for having quelled the Marmaridea rebellion in Cilicia (Libya) in BC.14. Quirinius was the one who Caesar Augustus sent to conquer the Homonadenses nation. This campaign had to have been implemented from Syria. It necessarily follows that in 6-5 B.C., General Quirinius dealt with the Homonadenses situation as Augustus' vicegerent, whilst Varus attended to the internal administration of Syria.
As Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. believing that Jesus was over 12 months old and ordering the death of all the male children two years and below, or all who were born in and after 6 B.C., we can now safely assume that Jesus was born in 6 B.C., when the census of ENROLLMENT was taken in Judaea, while General Quirinius in 6-5 B.C., was dealing with the Homonadenses in the Taurus Mountains, which marked the northern limit of the Syrian plain from where Quirinius would have undoubtedly launched his campaign against the Homonadenses.
This reveals that the census of Israel in 6.B.C, when Quirinius was on a campaign in Syria as Augustus’ Vicegerent, was not an exercise in tax collecting, but an exercise in information gathering, which was a census of the entire Roman Empire, decreed by Caesar Augustus, It would have taken a few years to implement and complete this. It was decreed in 8 BC. and the completed set of documents, which registered the loyalty of Roman citizens and people of note in subject nations to Caesar Augustus, was presented to him in 3 BC.
The following is Augustus' own account: Page 1. "during my sixth term as consul (BC.28), I, along with my comrade Marcus Agrippa, commanded a census to be taken of the people. I directed a lustrum, the first in forty-one years, in which 4,063,000 Roman citizens were counted. And once again, with imperial authority, I single handedly authorized a lustrum when the consuls of Rome were Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius (8 B.C.), during which time 4,233,000 Roman citizens were counted."
In Luke’s day there was no B.C. (Before Christ) or C.E. (Christian Era). So, in what year did Luke say that the census of Caesar Augustus was held in Israel? [ANSWER] In the year that General Quirinius, as Augustus’ Vicegerent, was on a campaign in Syria dealing with the Homonadenses situation, which we now know as the year 6 B.C. two years before the death of Herod the Great.
