Luke 2:4 Commentary and Bible Study

The decree required that each household should return to the region where their ancestors came from, and so Joseph who was from the tribe of Judah made the necessary journey. For reasons we are not told he was living in Galilee, away from his close tribal relatives, but it was not the will of God that the Lord Jesus should be born in Nazareth. He would grow up there, but he would not be born there. God therefore moved Mary to Bethlehem in time for the birth, so that Scripture would be precisely fulfilled. It was through Micah that this particular prediction was given: ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting’ (Micah 5:2). Events were going to overtake them, so that they would not return to Galilee again afterwards. It is possible that Joseph planned to live permanently in Judea. Evidence for this is that on coming back from Egypt after the death of herod, he went to Israel as instructed and was ready to settle in Judea (Matthew 2:21-22). It was only after he learnt that herod’s son was reigning in Judea that he turned aside to Galilee and ended up back in Nazareth where he had started. The journey of the family into Egypt recorded by Matthew is left out by Luke.Joseph goes with his wife, who is heavily pregnant, down into Judah, the land of his own tribe, and into the city of Bethlehem. The message from the angel had been so clear, and after he had accustomed himself to the shock of it all, he must have imagined Mary giving birth where they lived in Nazareth. Bethlehem is called the city of David, and this is important. It was well known that the Messiah would be the son of David (Matthew 22:42), and David is emphasised here as well as Judah. Joseph’s line of descent led back through David, and it seems that the census registration required people had to return to the city of their ancestors.