But if Herod thought it necessary to kill children born over a two-year period in order to find a very young child, he must have known that the Magi’s star did not give the exact date of the child’s birth. In other words, unlike many modern interpreters, Herod understood that the Magi were not talking about a Hellenistic horoscope. Herod was, of course, correct in seeing that the Magi’s portent was not a horoscope. Horoscopes, both then and now, are usually cast long after a person’s birth. Their