Should the priests have known where the Messiah was to be born without searching?

Les teaches that when Jesus presented Himself as the King of Israel, Israel should have known because it was plain as day in the Old Testament. But Israel did not know because they were unbelieving and refused to search the Scriptures. It was not until the wise men came to Herod and asked where the one born King of the Jews was that Herod, frightened, went to the priests and asked where the King of Israel was to be born. They did not know offhand, so they dug up the Old Testament Scriptures and found in Micah that He would be born in Bethlehem. They should have told Herod right off the top of their head that He was to be born in Bethlehem, along with all the other things attendant with His coming, but they did not know. Les applies the same point to Romans chapter 11: Israel should have known, but they refused and remained in unbelief.