<P> The Gospel of Luke says the census from Caesar Augustus took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria . Tipler suggests this took place in AD 6, nine years after the death of Herod, and that the family of Jesus left Bethlehem shortly after the birth . Some scholars explain the apparent disparity as an error on the part of the author of the Gospel of Luke, concluding that he was more concerned with creating a symbolic narrative than a historical account, and was either unaware of, or indifferent to, the chronological difficulty . </P> <P> However, there is some debate among Bible translators about the correct reading of Luke 2: 2 . Instead of translating the registration as taking place "when" Quirinius was governor of Syria, some versions translate it as "before" or use "before" as an alternative, which Harold Hoehner, F.F. Bruce, Ben Witherington and others have suggested may be the correct translation . While not in agreement, Emil Schürer also acknowledged that such a translation can be justified grammatically . According to Josephus, the tax census conducted by the Roman senator Quirinius particularly irritated the Jews, and was one of the causes of the Zealot movement of armed resistance to Rome . From this perspective, Luke may have been trying to differentiate the census at the time of Jesus' birth from the tax census mentioned in Acts 5: 37 that took place under Quirinius at a later time . One ancient writer identified the census at Jesus' birth, not with taxes, but with a universal pledge of allegiance to the emperor . </P> <P> Jack Finegan noted some early writers' reckoning of the regnal years of Augustus are the equivalent to 3 / 2 BC, or 2 BC or later for the birth of Jesus, including Irenaeus (3 / 2 BC), Clement of Alexandria (3 / 2 BC), Tertullian (3 / 2 BC), Julius Africanus (3 / 2 BC), Hippolytus of Rome (3 / 2 BC), Hippolytus of Thebes (3 / 2 BC), Origen (3 / 2 BC), Eusebius of Caesarea (3 / 2 BC), Epiphanius of Salamis (3 / 2 BC), Cassiodorus Senator (3 BC), Paulus Orosius (2 BC), Dionysus Exiguus (1 BC), and Chronographer of the Year 354 (AD 1). Finegan places the death of Herod in 1 BC, and says if Jesus was born two years or less before Herod the Great died, the birth of Jesus would have been in 3 or 2 BC . Finegan also notes the Alogi reckoned Christ's birth with the equivalent of 4 BC or AD 9 . </P> <P> In the Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem is interpreted as a miraculous event of symbolic and pedagogical significance, regardless of whether it coincides with a natural phenomenon; a sign sent by God to lead the Magi to the Christ Child . This is illustrated in the Troparion of the Nativity: </P>

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