In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…And everyone went to their own town to register. Luke 2:1,3
A
census in Roman times had the same purpose behind a census today—to get an
accurate headcount of people so you can tax them. Rome had a huge infrastructure—roads,
buildings, armies. Who was going to pay
for all that? The people of course.
Caesar
Augustus was also known as Octavian, whose uncle was Julius Caesar. When Julius was stabbed to death, Augustus
took over. He really expanded the
empire, brought peace to the land. All
of that work needed money.
History
shows that Rome had three censuses around Jesus time: 28 BC, 8 BC, 14 AD, then
Judea had three censuses also: 8 BC, 2 BC, 6 AD. Rome was greedy and powerful and demanded all
the money they could from everyone possible.