While Luke set the Christmas story in the context of Caesar Augustus' reign (to show its cosmic, historic significance and fit his Greek audience), Matthew places it in Judea, under the reign of King Herod (a prophetic, divine significance understood by his Jewish audience).  Like Luke, who set up a contrast between the claims of Caesar Augustus (Savior of the world and a god) and that those claims really belonged to Jesus, so Matthew is clearly setting up a contrast between Herod and Jesus.  And, as we'll see in this series, the contrasts between the two impacts all the characters of the Christmas story.  We'll start with the main character, Jesus.

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-18