Template:Census

Census

Load video

YouTube

YouTube might collect personal data. Privacy Policy

ContinueDismiss

Description_Census during Christ's birth (Luke 2)_. Full audio play on YouTube __Time 7:53

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." Luke 2:1

The word we see translated "tax" appears three times in Luke and actually means "specifically to enter in public records the names of men, their property and income; to enroll". It also appears in Hebrews but is translated "written". In the Old Testament the firstborn were specifically the Levites who were the "called out Church in the wilderness" and in the New Testament the "called out" were the disciples of Jesus who were called the church and appointed by Christ, our mediator.

The Romans seldom did anything without a purpose, a plan, and the hope of profit. To have a good plan they needed good information. When Augustus' commemorative account of his achievements (Res Gestae) prominently featured the geographical cataloging of peoples and places within the Empire. Geography, the census, and the meticulous keeping of written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration.

There were from 45 to 65 million people in the Roman Empire at different times and a census was often scheduled every 5 years. Augustus's own census information recorded almost 5,000,000 citizens of Rome.

This was no small task and required a uniform method, places to store the record and people you could trust. This is where the Temples, often built by the Roman government provided the place and the trusted priests and priestesses, in the case of Rome, performed the process.

Shortly before Julius Caesar, the Romans depended upon nd all voluntary army. Gaius Marius and the Marian Reforms' moved to a professional army which did more to alter Roman society than many realize.

The vast wealth accumulated by Generals bought them prestige and political power. Those gifts, gratuities, and grants to the people by congiariumnot only bought the "license to do no wrong" it robbed the people of the responsibility of doing what is right through their deceitful dainties.

These deceitful dainties of rulers were also offered to the Roman client states or allies. They would also be obligated to provide tribute and even supply reinforcements to the Roman army. As provinces would be required to show consent by agreement and make "a register of cities", a "census of the population, and a "surveying the land". Their government recordkeeping included births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical proceedings. Among these client states were Pontus, Cappadocia, Bithynia, Judea, Palestine, and, by 65 BCE, Armenia. In Africa Mauretania, Algeria and Morocco also became client states.

In order to be taxed, you must be counted. Both the benefits and the Tax obligations were determined by the census, which required each head of a household to appear before the presiding official and provide a headcount of his household, as well as an accounting of property he owned that was suitable for agriculture or habitation.

A census as well as taxation in those days required some form of accounting and usually required a token to mark those who had been counted. The census called for by Augustus “was regarded as the badge of servitude, and incompatible with the Theocratic character of Israel”.

Judea did not hate Rome. Many loved and desired their protection, generosity, and social security; besides, they were good for business. There were rebels, as always. There was corruption, as always. Caesar was the protector of their peace, the benefactor of their welfare.

Many Jews loved the Emperor (Emperator), the commander-in-chief of the multinational military force that kept the peace throughout the world. Augustus Caesar offered many gifts, gratuities, and benefits as the Patronus of the Pax Romana, The Father of Roman Peace.

“The annual Temple-tribute was allowed to be transported to Jerusalem, and the alienation of these funds by the civil magistrates treated as sacrilege. As the Jews objected to bear arms, or march, on the Sabbath, they were freed from military service. On similar grounds, they were not obliged to appear in courts of law on their holy days. Augustus even ordered that, when the public distribution of corn or of money among the citizens fell on a Sabbath, the Jews were to receive their share on the following day. In a similar spirit the Roman authorities confirmed a decree by which the founder of Antioch, Seleucus I. (Nicator, [d Ob.280 B.C.]) had granted the Jews the right of citizenship in all the cities of Asia Minor and Syria which he had built, and the privilege of receiving, instead of the oil that was distributed, which their religion forbade them to use, [e Ab. Sar ii. 6] an equivalent in money. [Jos.Ant. Xii. 3. 1]. These rights were maintained by Vespasian and Titus even after the last Jewish war, not with standing the earnest remonstrances of these cities. No wonder, that at the death of Caesar the Jews of Rome gathered for many nights, waking strange feelings of awe in the city, as they chanted in mournful melodies their Psalms around the pyre on which the body of their benefactor had been burnt, and raised their pathetic dirges.”

The call for all the world to be taxed was a call for all the world to be enrolled as the beneficiaries of the The Father of Roman Peace.

“The year 2 B.C. marked the 25th anniversary of Caesar Augustus’s rule and the 750th anniversary of the founding of Rome. Huge celebrations were planned. The whole empire was at peace. The doors of the temple of Janus were closed for only the third time in Roman history. To honor their emperor, the people were to rise as one and name him pater patriae, or Father of the Country. This enrollment, described in the Book of Luke, which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, has always been a mystery since no regular census occurred at this time. But the pater patriae enrollment fits perfectly.”

Call no [man] your father

"But be not ye called Rabbi is Latin for "parent of the nation". Parens patriae is not just an ancient doctrine but is found as the power of the modern state to control the activities of the people in Title 15 Commerce and Trade, Title 12, Banks And Banking, Title 18. Crimes And Criminal Procedure, Title 49. Transportation and Title 42. Public Health and Welfare of the United States Codes and the laws of the several states.

---

The enrollment in the benefits schemes of the state alters the relationship and status of the people. Many Jews refused to register on religious grounds and were considered "idiotes". The more people apply to the benefaction of the state the more power the state has over the people. Plutarch wrote in his "Life of Coriolanus" (c. 100 AD.), "That the man who first ruined the Roman people twas he who first gave them treats and gratuities." But Polybius had warned the people 250 years earlier what the fate of the masses would be the fate of the nation if they become accustomed to taking these treats and gratuities of the State.

Herod the Great needed the favor and support of Rome and conformed to the changes that were taking place in Rome to maintain his ruling power. He was for the census and enrollment in his own scheme set up with the help of the Pharisees which perverted the ancient system of Corban into an entitlement program no longer dependent on freewill offerings.

Some put the date at 4BC at Herod's death in 4BC but that is highly disputed and likely wrong based on a misidentified lunar eclipse. There were other eclipses. It is possible that a transcriber or the author of Luke's gospel made an error identifying which census. There were also a number of the local census of varying kinds and what Quirinius was doing and when ruling is also disputed because there is some evidence that he was in charge during other periods including some rebellions in Galilee. None of this is substantive to the message. Some people even try disputing the existence of Christ with this conflicting information. These dates used is based on Josephus who does not dispute Christians and verifies them with Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 of the Antiquities with the line "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James". Herod was a client king of Judea who rebuilt the Second Temple (in Jerusalem) known as Herod's Temple. He instituted the Baptism of the temple that established the Corban of the Pharisees that according to Jesus made the word of God to none effect.

Besides registering the adults you would also have to register newborn children just as Rome was doing. Some opposed this registration of children on religious and doctrinal bases but some understood it was part of a three-step plan according to Jus Romanus (Roman Law) to make the State the Father of the people.

• "Birth registration in ancient Rome. Birth certificates for Roman citizens were introduced during the reign of Augustus (27 BC–14 AD). Until the time of Alexander Severus (222–235 AD), it was required that these documents be written in Latin as a marker of "Romanness" (Romanitas)."

"Birth registration" was important to create a uniform rule for the distribution of benefits, duties, and obligations. It was a part of a three-step process founded in natural law to create a legal system which made the State the Father of a nation.

The government of Rome provided many benefits like free bread through the Imperial Cult of Rome run through the government-sponsored Temples. These certificates were stored in the Temple of Saturn. Religion had always been the institution providing for the poor or needy of society such as widows and orphans. From the Altars of Clay and Stone of Abraham and Moses there were safeguardsin the practice of religion among the Israelites to prevent the Levite priests from gaining to much power. There were also constitutional limitations imposed by the Bible in Deuteronomy 17 if the people elected to create any offices of power such as kings, presidents, or prime ministers. When these safeguards against tyranny were ignored or forgotten governments of the world became corrupt, society began to decay, and its members began to degenerate.

“Herod’s greatest fault was his ungovernable passion both in love and hate. This coupled with his constant fear of losing this throne led to most of his ‘crimes’ especially those committed within his own family.”

• Herod Archelaus (23 BC–c. AD 18), ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea from 4 BC to 6 AD, when Judaea province was formed under direct Roman rule, at the time of the Census of Quirinius. He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samaritan, the brother of Herod Antipas, and the half-brother of Herod Philip I. In 4 BC Augustus allotted to him the greater part of the kingdom (Samaria, Judea, and Idumea) with the title of ethnarch (not king).

Archelaus is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:13-23). In it, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt to avoid the Massacre of the Innocents. When Herod the Great died, Joseph was told by an angel in a dream to return to Israel (presumably to Bethlehem). However, upon hearing that Archelaus had succeeded his father as ruler of Judaea he "was afraid to go thither" (Matthew 2:22), and was again notified in a dream to go to Galilee. This is Matthew's explanation of why Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea but grew up in Nazareth.

The beginning and conclusion of Jesus's Parable of the minas, the master gives 10 of his servants one mina each and tells them to engage in trade while he is away. This parable in the Gospel of Luke 19:12-27 may refer to Archelaus' journey to Rome. Some interpreters conclude from this that Jesus' parables and preaching made use of events familiar to the people as examples for bringing his spiritual lessons to life. Others read the allusion as arising from later adaptations of Jesus's parables in the oral tradition before the parables were recorded in the gospels.

Edmund Burke first wrote of the "great unwashed" masses in regards to the mobs of the French revolution. Those "unwashed masses" are said to be "The collective group ("mass") of people who are considered by someone to be somehow uneducated, uninformed, or in some other way unqualified for inclusion in the speaker's elite circles." To Christians the "unwashed" would be all the people who have not received the "baptism of repentance" which was a part of the process of seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness which leads to the remission of sins.