Massacre of the Innocents

[sdelsolray]

Actually, it does.

That reads more to me that the people of the time did not understand perspective when it comes to distance and the stars so they just kept following it until it brought them to their destination.

Remember at this time people in that area still believed in a firmament.

Due to the Earth's rotation relative to the solar system's and galaxy's ecliptic planes, following a star (as in walking exactly in the direction of the star) does not work very well.  Over a night, you will end up walking in a semi-circle, not in a straight line.  There are two reasons for this:

1)  The star appears to move during the night because of the Earth's rotation; and

2)  The tilt of the Earth's axis (again, relative to the plane of the solar system's and the Milky Way's ecliptics) makes the star appear to change orientation when compared to any terrestrial direction.  For example, the star Sirius (often considered the Star of the Magi in the Biblical literature) will point due East but only on certain days and at certain times.  On other days and at different times it will not point due East.  And, of course, as night passes that star faces South then West.

One other point.  At no time during the year does Sirius appear directly overhead when the observer is in the Middle East (or anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere).  That only occurs at about 17º S latitude (e.g., Fiji Islands).

Astronomy 101.