All Things Christmas (6 page)

Caesar Augustus’ tax of 6 AD

The Roman Historian,
Dio
Cassius, writes that Caesar Augustus decreed a census for purposes of taxation for all the inhabited earth, essentially the Roman Empire, in 6 AD. By 5 AD the military expenditures for the Roman legions had exceeded available income, and “Augustus lacked funds for all these troops.” (
Dio
Cassius, Roman History LV 24:9) To overcome this deficit, Augustus “established the tax of 5%, on the inheritances and bequests which should be left by people at their death to any except very near relatives or very poor persons.”
Dio
Cassius claims
to have
found references to this tax
set down in Caesar's memoranda.

It was, in fact,
“
a method which had been introduced once before, but had been abolished later, and was now revived. In this way, then, he increased the revenues.” (Roman History LV 25:5-6) Establishment and collection of such a tax would requi
r
e a census to register transferable assets, such as land, and to record genealogies to establish who was and was not
“
a
very near relative
.
”

Josephus, in his Antiquities, notes the response to this decree in Judea, “Now
Cyrenius
, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through other magistracies, and had passed through them till he had been consul, and one who, on other accounts, was of great dignity, came at this time into Syria, with a few others, being sent by Caesar to be a judge of that nation, and to take an account of their substance.
Coponius
also, a man of the equestrian order, was sent together with him, to have the supreme power over the Jews. Moreover,
Cyrenius
came himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance, and to dispose of
Archelaus
’ money; but the Jews, although at the beginning they took the report of a taxation heinously, yet did they leave off any further oppo
sition to it.” (Ant. XVIII 1:1)

We should point out here that the
Archelaus
Josephus mentions is Herod
Archelaus
, the son of Herod the Great, and recently deposed
ethnarch
of Judea. Augustus named Herod
Archelaus
ruler of
Samaria, Judea, and
Idumea
following his father’s death. He ruled from 4 BC until 6 AD when Augustus removed him because of incompetence. So in the Jewish homeland the census served a two-fold purpose. First, it fulfilled the edict of Caesar Augustus and facilitated his new tax. Secondly, it closed the books on
Archelaus
’ administration before the territory was annexed to the Provence of Syria and
Coponius
took office as the regions first Prefect.

Archelaus
appears in Matthew’s Gospel in Chapter 2:20-23 where he is cited as the reason Joseph chose to go to Nazareth rather than return to Judea where they had lived prior to the flight into Egypt. ‘“Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that
Archelaus
reigned over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’”

But the census of 6 AD can’t be the one Luke is referring to. Since it was specifically designated for the military, the Roman troops would have conducted the census. There would have been no going “
to be enrolled, each to
his own
city.
”

Going Back to Ancient Writers

Recall that
Dio
Cassius tells us that this was the second attempt at a military tax and that it had been introduced once before, but later abolished and was now being revived. There was only one prior tax designated specifically for the military, and this must be the decree Luke referred to. The decree for taxation combined with a census at the time of Jesus' birth was likely that first unsuccessful attempt to
support the military treasury.

However, because there’s no record of when the first tax was imposed, it can’t be dated with certainty. But we can find mention of it by other early writers. Tertullian (155-245), the Christian theologian, notes that a census in Judea took place under
Sentius
Saturninus
, who served from 9-6 BC. He writes, “But there is historical proof that at this very time there were censuses that had been taken in Judea by
Sentius
Saturninus
, which might have satisfied their inquiry respecting the family and descent of C
hrist.” (Against
Marcion
IV
:19
)

Re
visit
ing the Gospel of Luke

It’s very plausible that Luke's intent was to say that the enrollment at the time of Jesus’ birth was the first one, as distinguished from the later one when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Quirinius, by the way, was appointed Governor of Syria in 6 AD and was in office during the second census to complete the transition from
Archelaus
to
Coponius
. The Greek can be interpreted to say: “This census was first one, which came before the one Quirinius held while governor of Syria,” which validate
s the historicity of Scripture.

And finally, one must reconcile the seeming contradiction that Luke describes the Jewish method of returning to one's tribal headquarters to be counted when the Romans typically counted people where they were. The key difference is that this census was to establish inheritance taxes and people would have to go back to tribal region regardless of who was conducting the count. As a descendant of David, and thereby of the tribe of Judah, Joseph had to go back to town where the necessary land record
s and genealogies were located.

It is known that a significant number of Judeans relocated to Galilee in the latter years of the First Century BC. The fact that after the visit of the Angel Gabriel, Mary “arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth,” (Luke 1:39-40) provides further support for the notion that both Mary and Joseph had familial ties to Judea.

Putting it all together

So let’s quickly sum up. We know that Quirinius was Governor of Syria from 6 AD to 9 AD and supervised a census while Governor. We also know that another, earlier tax and census was imposed sometime before he became Governor. We know Herod the Great was still al
ive when Jesus was born. We know this from Matthew who, in reference to the Wise Men, tells us, “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod…” (Matt 2:12) And secondly because Luke tells us in the opening of his Gospel, “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah…” (Luke 1:5)

Most experts date Herod’s death as occurring in 4 BC. For instance,
Josephus states that
Herod’s son,
Philip the Tetrarch's death took place after a 37-year reign, in the 20th year of Tiberius
…i.e.
34
AD. If his father died in 4 BC, Phillip would have taken office in 3 AD.
Consequently, we can say with good certainty that the first tax/census Luke mentions, and Jesus’ birth, must have occurred
prior to or very
early in 4 BC.

Chapter S
even

WHY DOES CHRISTMAS COME ON DECEMBER
25
TH
?

T
he Newborn Christ Child

Ask a dozen people, “Why is Christmas on December 25
th
?” and you’re likely to end up with a variety of answers none of which is, “Well, because that’s the day Jesus was born.”

The skeptics in the group will agree that Christ was definitely NOT born on December 25
th
. You’ve heard their justifications. After all, everyone
knows
religion is nothing but myth and superstition
,
a
single story told and retold around the world according to mythologist Joseph Campbell in his book
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
.

Differing Ideas

As the Church grew and came into its own, according to the prevailing consensus, it began adapting and assimilating left and right. No matter where these early Church Fathers went, the first thing they did was incorporate the local pagan beliefs and holidays into Christianity. After all, how else could they make their message appeal to the masses?
So
Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus. It was derived from the solstice traditions of the ancient Babylonians…or was it the Assyrians? No, maybe it was the Persians or the Medes, the Greeks…the Romans, the Egyptians, the Norse, the Celts, the Druids, the…the…
And o
n and on it goes. It seems the only ones who haven’t been credited with originating Christmas are the Mayans and the Aztecs. And, given enough time, they may still make it to the big leagues.

Importance Solstices and Equinoxes

There’s one thing that needs to be understood. Nearly all early cultures had strong traditions built around the
s
olstices and
e
quinoxes. They had to. There was no such thing as Greenwich Mean Time for them and calendars were ephemeral things. Day length varied from long to short and back again. Driven by the moon
and
months, the festivals associated with them
could move a
round if not carefully watched.

Meanwhile, critical factors such as the correct time to plant had to be known with certainty. Without phone, fax, or email and saddled with a calendar that demanded constant tinkering, the only dependable measure of time lay in the heavens. Even the American Indians carefully tracked the solstices. It allowed them to predict the migration patterns of game animals, attend pre-arranged councils, and meet at specific times and pla
ces to trade with other tribes.

Should anyone be surprised that most ancient cultures had winter festivals of one sort or another? No, the greater surprise would be if they didn’t.  But if the early Christians didn’t piggyback their Feast Days onto someone else’s, how in the world did they arrive at a suitable date?

Search
ing for Clues

The Bible offers few clues
.
Celebrations of Jesus’ Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or
in
Acts
and
the date
of his birth
is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:8) might suggest the spring lambing season
. Yet we have to be cautious when extracting precise meanings from what is generally a theological narrative.

This is also a good place to point out that references to cold and snow in Christmas Carols such as
The First Noel
, “On a cold winter’s night that was so deep…”
or
Still, Still, Still
, “One can hear the falling snow…” are the result of moving an event which occurred in the Middle East to the less temperate climes of Northern Europe.

In reality, the first Christians cared little about when Jesus was born.
There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of
the
Christian
Fathers
such as
Irenaeus
or Tertullian. Origen of Alexandria
even
m
ocks the Roman celebration of birthdays, calling
them
pagan practices
. Everything seems to indicate
that Jesus’ birth was not
even
celebrated by the Early Christian believers; their focus remained squarely on, as Paul said, “Christ crucified.”