Luke 2:2

Verse 2. And this taxing was first made, &c. This verse has given as much perplexity, perhaps, as any one in the New Testament. The difficulty consists in the fact that Cyrenius, or Quirinius, was not governor of Syria until twelve or fifteen years after the birth of Jesus. Jesus was born during the reign of Herod. At that time Varus was president of Syria. Herod was succeeded by Archelaus, who reigned eight or nine years; and after he was removed, Judea was annexed to the province of Syria, and Cyrenius was sent as the governor (Josephus, Ant., b. xvii. § 5). The difficulty has been to reconcile this account with that in Luke. Various attempts have been made to do this.