and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city Nazareth to Judaea, to David's city, the which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,
God said through Micah that Israel's ruler would come from Bethlehem, yet Joseph and Mary lived far north in Nazareth. A tax order from a pagan emperor moves them to that one village, and Luke ties the journey to Joseph's descent from David.
Luke says the census itself first took place under Quirinius, years later. So the order was not fully carried out at this moment. One writer draws out what that shows about God's control of world events:
It was not carried out at the time in view here as first proposed. But it was enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy. God took care that it should be fulfilled just enough to carry out His purposes.
The same writer adds a striking detail. Even the mother of the Messiah and His legal father had to obey the decree of the Roman emperor. God's own people were under Rome.
The prophecy behind this journey was already ancient. It said more than where the child would be born:
The proud Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, set all the machinery in motion to bring this taxing about. He little thought that it was to fulfil the Scripture: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). That prophecy came more than seven centuries before the birth of our Lord. In it we see His manhood, the place of His birth, and also the careful assertion of His deity.
Luke gives the reason for the journey: Joseph belonged to the house of David. That short note settles a legal question about the throne:
From the time a woman among the Jews was engaged, she was considered legally the wife of the man she was betrothed to. So the Lord, while really the Son of His mother Mary, was legally of Joseph; and both Joseph and Mary were of the royal line. So the Lord Jesus represented David on both sides. But as the law required, He was the descendant of Solomon on the legal side. He was without question the Son of Mary, descended from the Nathan branch. Yet by law He could not be Messiah while a living representative of the Solomon branch remained. Being the legally reputed Son of Joseph as well as Mary's child, the Lord was descended exactly as He needed to be, in every required respect "David's Son," the Messiah.
Joseph is the heir of a throne. Yet he is a village workman, travelling under orders from a foreign power. That contrast fulfils Scripture too:
He was an obscure village carpenter. This proved the truth of the prophet's words that the tabernacle of David had fallen down and lay in ruins (Amos 9:11). Yet he showed marks of true royalty according to God: in his mercy toward the weak and, as he thought, the failing, and in his trust in the Word of God and his obedience to it.
Luke calls Bethlehem "the city of David," and the name of the town itself points forward:
Bethlehem is "the House of Bread," fittingly the birthplace, long afterward, of Him who as the "Bread of God" came down from heaven to give life to the world. Judah, "praise," is the royal tribe through which in grace the "King" was to come. Praise always flows from knowing the fullness of blessing that is ours in Christ. So food and worship are closely connected — Bethlehem is in Judah.
- Decree. Caesar ordered a census for his own glory. It went just far enough to move Joseph and Mary — accomplishing not man's census, but God's prophecy.
- Prophecy. Micah named Bethlehem more than seven centuries earlier. He named the child's manhood, birthplace and deity too.
- Lineage. Luke's phrase "of the house and lineage of David" gives the reason for the journey. Legally through Joseph and truly through Mary, Jesus represented David on both sides.
- Ruins. The heir of the throne was a village carpenter. David's house still lay in ruins when its true King arrived.
- Bethlehem. The house of bread and the city of David received the One who would come down from heaven as the Bread of God.
to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him [as his] wife, she being great with child.
Joseph travels to Bethlehem to register, and Mary goes with him, close to giving birth. Two questions sit in the verse: what did a betrothal mean in law, and why would a pregnant woman make that journey at all?
The verse calls Mary Joseph's betrothed, and that word carried legal weight. One writer explains what it meant for the Child's descent from David:
Once a Jewish woman was betrothed, the law counted her as the wife of the man she was promised to. So the Lord was really the Son of His mother Mary, and legally the son of Joseph. Both Joseph and Mary were of the royal line. The Lord Jesus, therefore, represented David on both sides; but as the law required, He was the descendant of Solomon on the legal side. He was the Son of Mary and descended through Nathan's branch of David's family. Even so, He could not be the Messiah under the law while a living representative of Solomon's branch remained. But the Lord was counted by law as Joseph's son, as well as being Mary's child. So His descent was exactly what was needed to make Him "David's Son," the Messiah, in every required respect.
The place of the Messiah's birth was named long before Mary was born:
More than seven hundred years before the birth of Christ the prophet Micah had said in the name of Jehovah, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." The chief priests and scribes quoted these words when Herod asked where Christ should be born. So they took them as a prediction of the Messiah's birthplace. But Mary's home was at Nazareth in Galilee, and the time was drawing near for the birth of her holy Child.
The emperor issued his order for his own reasons. He was serving another purpose without knowing it:
Caesar Augustus acts for the sake of his subjects. Yet without knowing it, he is the means of fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus should be born in Bethlehem... All the world is in movement to bring about one event that prophecy required. The poor carpenter, with Mary, His betrothed wife, must be in the city of David, and David's heir must be born there and then... Who cared to notice the poor Jew, though he might be of the house and line of David? The things that are completely unimportant to man fill the heart and eye of God.
Enrolling meant admitting that Rome ruled them:
Even the people of God were placed in servitude. Remarkably, the mother of the Messiah had to obey the decree of the Roman Emperor, and so did His legal father. They went up for the census to their own city, the city of David, Bethlehem, and so fulfilled the prophecies... The decree was not carried out at the time proposed here. But it went far enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy.
Christ came into a world that Caesar governed:
The circumstances of His birth show how complete the humiliation is into which He has come. Caesar is lord of the world, and orders it as he pleases, for his own purposes... yet He is in it as under Caesar's rule, Joseph and Mary being brought out of Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled as of David's line. Despite all this, the power of the world is working, without knowing it, to fulfil a prophecy about One it does not know. Once this is done, the plan drops as if it had never been.
A woman that near to childbirth would not travel by choice. One writer notes what met her when she arrived:
The virgin who lived at Nazareth had to be taken to Bethlehem. There she gave birth to Him whose kingdom would in time break the Roman empire in pieces and fill the whole earth. She was poor. Naturally she would not have left Nazareth at such a time. They seem to have been friendless too, at Bethlehem. The inn was crowded. No one offered them a home.
- Decree — Caesar orders a census for his own ends, and never knows what purpose he really serves.
- Journey — that decree lifts a poor couple out of Nazareth and puts them in Bethlehem just as Mary's time comes.
- Title — "betrothed wife" is a legal standing. Mary's Son is hers by birth and Joseph's by law, so David's line reaches Him on both sides.
- Fulfilment — Micah named the village seven hundred years earlier. The census accomplished not man's count but God's prophecy.
- Cost — they reached Bethlehem poor and friendless, and no one gave them a home. Once the decree had served its hidden purpose, it lapsed as though it had never been.