Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
That registers of descent were kept, is vouched for by Ezra 2:1-57, and especially Ezra 2:59-63; and that they were preserved in the case of those performing the functions of the priesthood, and particularly in that of descendants of the house of David, is confirmed by the books of Jewish tradition. Thus we read in Jerus. Taanith, fol. 68. 1, that a genealogical table existed in Jerusalem, which showed that Hillel was descended from David through Abital; (Caspari, p. 63)