21 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus , that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth . 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria . 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census , each to his own city . 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee , from the city of Nazareth , to Judea , to the city of David which is called Bethlehem , because he was of the house and family of David , 5 in order to register along with Mary , who was engaged to him, and was with child . 6 While they were there , the days were completed for her to give birth . 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son ; and she wrapped Him in cloths , and laid Him in a manger , because there was no room for them in the inn .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 2:1-7
Commentary on Luke 2:1-7
(Read Luke 2:1-7)
The fulness of time was now come, when God would send forth his Son, made of a woman, and made under the law. The circumstances of his birth were very mean. Christ was born at an inn; he came into the world to sojourn here for awhile, as at an inn, and to teach us to do likewise. We are become by sin like an outcast infant, helpless and forlorn; and such a one was Christ. He well knew how unwilling we are to be meanly lodged, clothed, or fed; how we desire to have our children decorated and indulged; how apt the poor are to envy the rich, and how prone the rich to disdain the poor. But when we by faith view the Son of God being made man and lying in a manger, our vanity, ambition, and envy are checked. We cannot, with this object rightly before us, seek great things for ourselves or our children.