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Merrill Mow (1928-1987) had a fascination and a love for Bible history, nurtured by his parents and stimulated by his professors at seminary in the late 1940s. Towards the end of his life Merrill began using his knowledge to inspire classes of elementary school students with weekly Bible study. This is an excerpt from one such class held in 1983 in which he recounts the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.
From the ebook:
...The main reason Augustus ordered a census was because his whole empire was supported by taxes that came in from all over the empire and he had to know how many people they could collect taxes from. It was a burden he laid on the people he had conquered. This is the first time that one of these world enrollments ever took place. It says: This was the first enrollment when Quirinius was Governor of Syria. Now these names are means by which we know the date, because the Bible doesn't give the dates even in Hebrew years here.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (that's where David grew up) because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn....
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