11/8/2017 Darkness of the Crucifixion

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Darkness of the Crucifixion

An historical study
The darkness which Matthew, Mark and Luke all record
as enshrouding the land from the sixth hour to the ninth ‑
noon to  3.0 pm is often assumed to be the result of an
eclipse of the sun. In fact, the NEB, Dr.Moffat and
the 20th Century NT, use this term. In so doing they have
all fallen into what ought to have been a fairly obvious
error. The Crucifixion was at the time of the Passover,
when the moon is of necessity at the full, and there cannot
be an eclipse of the sun at full moon. Furthermore, the
darkness is said to have continued for the space of three
hours whereas the longest time that an eclipse of the sun
can persist at any one place is seven minutes. Whatever the
nature of this rather mysterious darkness, it certainly was
not an eclipse.
The happening is mentioned in Matt.27.45, Mark  15.33
and Luke 23.44-45. Matthew and Mark would have been eye
witnesses: Luke got his information from someone who had
been an eye-witness. Matthew says that there was an
earthquake at the same time; the others say nothing about
this. Apart from that remark, the three accounts are
identical in detail and this points to a very clear and
undisputed recollection of what actually took place.
Throughout all time since the event, this darkness has been
accepted as having actually occurred and generally taken as
a sign of Divine displeasure with those then guilty of the
condemnation of the Lord. Matthew's statement that the
Veil of the Temple was rent in twain, throwing the sacred

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Most Holy open to public view at this time, is taken as

pointing to the same conclusion.
Confirming evidence that this darkness did in fact occur
is extant from a secular source. Phlegon Trallianus, a Greek
historian, who was born not long after the Crucifixion and
died in the middle of the Second Century, wrote a history
of the times from 776 B.C. to his own day. and had this to
say, "In the Fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad there was
a great eclipse of the sun, greater than had ever been
known before, for at the sixth hour the day was changed
into night and the stars were seen in the heavens. An
earthquake occurred in Bithynia and overthrew a great part
of the city of Nicaia."
Although existing copies of Phlegon's statement use the
word ekleipsis, from which our technical word "eclipse" is
derived. it is not implied that he intended the modern
meaning since the word in his day was used to denote
darkening of the heavens from whatever cause. Of greater
importance is the relation of the date given to that of the
Crucifixion. Dates in Greece at the time of the First
Advent were denoted by Olympiads, four-year periods
starting from the institution of the Olympic games in
Greece in the midsummer of 776 B.C. Thus summer 776 B.C.
to summer 775 B.C. was the first year of the First
Olympiad, and this system of dating continued until AD.394.
On this basis the Fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad would
commence in July A.D.32 and finish in June A.D.33. At some
time during that twelve months occurred the darkness over
Asia in which lay Bithynia and Nicea to which Phlegon
refers. It is astronomically established that during that
year there was no eclipse of the sun visible from the
territory in question.
The date of our Lord's death is generally agreed
nowadays, in the light of modern knowledge of relevant
history, to have been in the spring of A.D.33 and of course
at the time of the Jewish Passover, on the 14th  day of the
first month of the Jewish year, Nisan. One of the

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essentials in this matter is that 14th  Nisan in the year of

the Crucifixion must have fallen on a Friday. There are only
two years in the relevant period when this was the case. In
A. D. 30 the 14th Nisan fell on Friday 7th April (Julian) and
in AD.  33 on Friday  3  April (commencing at 6.0 pm. on the
evening of 2nd  April in accordance with Jewish custom).
Phlegon makes no mention of the happening as affecting
Judea. It is doubtful if he ever heard of Jesus of
Nazareth, and Bithynia is six hundred miles from
Jerusalem. The fact that the year he specifies is the same
as the year of the Crucifixion is presumptive evidence that
Phiegon records the same darkness and the same
earthquake as do the three Gospels. It extended over the
entire Middle East from Bithynia on the shores of the
Black Sea, across Greek Asia and Syria into Galilee and
Judea. Thallus, a Syrian historian contemporary with
Phlegon, is credited with recording a similar day of
darkness without, however, giving the date of the
occurrence, which does at least give some ground for
thinking that it was also observed in Syria.
The cause of the darkness, apart from being an act of
God remains a mystery. The apparent area affected
precludes its being the effect of low-lying clouds blotting
out sunlight, such as does occur sometimes over valleys
when by a vagary of the wind dense cloud masses build up
and remain stationary over a relatively small area and block
all light. Volcanic dust from an eruption has been known to
produce the same effect, but always in the vicinity of
volcanoes and there are no volcanoes. A rather interesting
parallel to this darkening at the Crucifixion is the
celebrated 'Dark Day of 1780'. This happening is so near to
our own time that it is fully authenticated, although despite
investigation by the best scientific minds of the time, the
cause has never been established. It does seem, however,
to have been a similar phenomenon, from the physical point
of view, to that associated with the death of Jesus.
May  19,  1780, dawned on the eastern coast of North
America without incident and the customary daily routine
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of the citizens of New York State. Massachusetts,

Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire was soon under
way. But at  10am sunlight began inexplicably to fail from
the sky and by 11 o'clock an area of some six hundred and
fifty miles in each direction was completely dark. Work
ceased and workers returned to their homes, where lights
burned as at night. The Connecticut Legislature, in session
at the time, adjourned its proceedings and noted the
phenomenon in the Journal of the Senate. A few hours
later, discovering that an impression was gaining ground to
the effect that the Last Day had come and the Judgment
was at hand, the members returned to the House that they
might be found doing their duty should the Lord return
unexpectedly. The darkness continued until about 2.00 am.
the following morning, although the moon was full at the
time. The disturbance, whatever it was, affected sunlight
and moonlight equally. By  4.00 am. on the morning of the
20th, normal conditions were restored everywhere.
No explanation has ever been found. Sir William
Herschel, the celebrated British astronomer, who lived at
the time, said "the dark day in Northern America was one
of those wonderful phenomena of Nature which will always
be read of with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss
to explain '. A New Hampshire eye-witness, Judge Tenney,
writing on the subject five years later, said "I could not
help conceiving at the time, that if every luminous body in
the Universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness,
or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have
been more complete. A sheet of white paper held within a
few inches of the eye was equally invisible with the
blackest velvet". Another eye-witness, Rev. Elam Potter.
expressed himself in a sermon nine days after the
happening "Specially I mention that wonderful darkness on
the  19th of May last. Then, as in our text, the sun was
darkened; such a darkness as was probably never known
since the crucifixion of our Lord. People left their work in
the house and in the field; travellers stopped; schools
broke up at 11 o'clock; people lighted candles at noon-day

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and the fire shone as at night. Some people, I am told, were

in dismay, and thought whether the Day of Judgment was
not drawing on. A great part of the following night also was
singularly dark. The moon, though in the full, gave no light,
as in our text"
The minister was, of course, referring to Biblical
references associated with the Second Advent such as
Joel 3.15 "The sun and the moon shall be darkened and the
stars shall withdraw their shining" and Matt.  24.  29
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the
sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven". It is not surprising that
some sections of the Christian world hailed this strange
happening as the fulfilment of such predictions, a physical
sign that the time of the Second Advent was at hand. Who
shall say that they were not justified, even although these
texts are primarily symbols of realities greater by far than
a transient darkness over a small patch of earth's surface
on a particular day. As a literal sign, repeating that given at
the Crucifixion, incomprehensible to men and incapable of
explanation by the then state of human knowledge there is
much to recommend the conclusion.
One other related point is of interest. If Phlegon's
record is accepted as factual, the area covered by the
darkness in our Lord's day must have been almost identical
with that known to have been covered in  1780. From
Bithynia to Jerusalem is about the same distance as that
across the extremities of the dark area in North America.
The two incidents appear to be of one and the same nature
and both inexplicable to human scientific knowledge. Is this
an indication that God does from time to time in the course
of human history interject an occasional reminder that
there are things outside not only the understanding but the
control of man, by means of which all humanity's boasted
powers and achievements could be rendered impotent?
Suppose there was a third such inexplicable darkness, not
of three hours this time, nor yet of fifteen hours, but of
fifteen days or fifteen weeks; not limited to Judea or to a
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few American States, but over all the world! And all life on
earth depends on sunlight. Without the sun we perish! How
easily God can cry "Halt!" to human self-will when in His
wisdom He sees the time is ripe, and that without
necessarily losing a single human life, just by taking the
light away for a short while.
AOH

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