Luke said the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem was conducted when Quirinius was governing Syria and during the reign of Herod the Great. “That poses a significant problem,” I pointed out, “because Herod died in 4 B.C., and Quirinius didn’t begin ruling Syria until A.D. 6, conducting the census soon after that. There’s a big gap there; how can you deal with such a major discrepancy in the dates?”
