Matthew 27:45 meaning
The darkness that engulfed the land during the crucifixion of Jesus is of immense theological significance. Occurring from noon until 3:00 p.m., this extraordinary phenomenon cannot be merely attributed to a solar eclipse, as the Passover coincides with a full moon. This literal darkness not only represents judgment and despair but symbolizes the weight of sin upon Jesus as He bore the iniquities of humanity. The imagery aligns with the deeper narrative of God's wrath and the determination of divine purpose; it signifies a moment of cosmic disarray reflecting the spiritual turmoil of the moment. As described, this darkness conveys a palpable sense of impending disaster.
At the climax of this event, Jesus cries out in a haunting declaration of abandonment, echoing the words of Psalm 22:1. Here, He encapsulates a profound spiritual desolation, feeling the rupture of intimate fellowship with His Father even while embodying the very sin He seeks to redeem. This juxtaposition is pivotal; it gestures towards both the fulfillment of prophetic scripture and highlights the depth of Christ's sacrifice for humanity’s transgressions as He becomes the ultimate offering. In this moment, humanity witnesses the convergence of divine judgment and the promise of redemption embodied by Christ’s suffering and imminent death.
The commentary for this profound moment in scripture is encapsulated in the reference Matthew 27:45.
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Matthew 27:45 meaning
The parallel Gospel accounts for Matthew 27:45 are found in Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44-45.
The commentary for Matthew 27:45 is subdivided into three sections:
THE BIBLICAL IMAGERY OF DARKNESS AT THE CROSS
THE CRUCIFIXION DARKNESS AS FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
EXTRA-BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS OF THE CRUCIFIXION DARKNESS
After describing how Jesus’s mockers were ridiculing Him as He hung from the cross (Matthew 27:39-44), Matthew describes an ominous darkness that overtook the afternoon sky:
Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour (v 45).
Along with Mark and Luke, Matthew records that darkness enveloped the land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour (Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44). Converting these timeframes to contemporary timekeeping practices, the darkness first fell upon the land at 12:00 noon and it lasted until 3:00 pm.
According to Mark's Gospel, “It was the third hour [9:00 am] when they [first] crucified [Jesus]” (Mark 15:25). This suggests that Jesus endured the mockery of His adversaries (Matthew 27:39-44) for three hours before the darkness descended. Hence, Jesus’s initial three hours on the cross are sometimes called “the wrath of man.”
Both Matthew and Mark indicate that Jesus yielded up His spirit after this three-hour period of darkness, implying that Jesus remained alive on the cross for approximately six hours.
The subsequent three-hour period Jesus was on the cross is sometimes called “the wrath of God.” This description comes from the fact of the enveloping darkness from noon to 3:00 p.m., and Jesus’s desperate outcry:
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Matthew 27:46b)
To learn more about this statement, see The Bible Says article, “Jesus’s Seven Last Words from the Cross—4: A Word of Desolation.”
As will be explained more fully in The Bible Says commentary for Matthew 27:46, what Jesus suffered on the cross during those hours of darkness can be described as spiritual death—separation from God. This might be when Jesus took on the sins of the world on our behalf (Colossians 2:14).
The darkness itself was ominous and unsettling. Luke wrote “the sun was obscured” (Luke 23:45). Normally, an expression like this would describe an eclipse of some sort, however, many astronomic commentators have observed that a normal lunar eclipse at the time of Jesus’s death (Passover occurred halfway through the lunar cycle) would have been impossible. This darkness, therefore, appears to have been the result of some other cause, perhaps even supernatural.
Matthew writes that darkness fell upon all the land. His use of the word all indicates that this darkness was widespread. Mark uses similar language: “darkness fell over the whole land” (Mark 15:33). These expressions indicate that the darkness covered the entire surrounding region.
At minimum, the darkness fell upon Jerusalem and all the land in its immediate vicinity. The crucifixion darkness possibly extended over all of Judea, and/or significant portions of the wider Roman Empire. Perhaps the crucifixion darkness fell upon the entire earth.
Ancient accounts from Egypt, Asia Minor, and as far away as China may have chronicled the crucifixion darkness. These extra-Biblical accounts are cited at the end of this Bible Says commentary for Matthew 27:45.
THE BIBLICAL IMAGERY OF DARKNESS AT THE CROSS
The Bible uses the imagery of darkness to signify four different themes.
1. Disorder and Emptiness
(Genesis 1:2, Jeremiah 4:23)
2. Evil and Sin
(Isaiah 5:20, John 3:19, Colossians 1:13)
3. Mourning
(Job 30:26, Lamentations 3:2, Amos 5:20)
4. Divine Wrath and Judgment
(Exodus 10:21-23, Isaiah 5:30, 8:22, 13:10, 24:21-23, 60:2, Ezekiel 32:7-8, Joel 2:1-2, 10, 2:31, 3:15, Amos 5:18, 8:9-10, Nahum 1:8, Zephaniah 1:15, Zechariah 14:6-7)
Of the four Biblical themes for darkness, the association with divine wrath and judgment is the most prominent in the Old Testament. This commentary of Matthew 27:45 will consider how each of these themes pertain to the darkness that fell upon all the land during Jesus’s final three hours on the cross.
Matthew (and Mark and Luke, who both appear to follow Matthew’s pattern) does not explicitly comment about the significance of this darkness. He simply records it existence and describes it with three key facts:
By leaving the darkness’s significance untouched and not specifying one theme above the others, the Gospel writers infer that all four themes apply to the crucifixion darkness.
1. The Crucifixion Darkness as an Image of Disorder and Emptiness
The crucifixion darkness mirrored the disorder within the divine relationship of the Godhead as God the Son was temporarily estranged from God the Spirit and God the Father.
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’” that is, “‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”
(Matthew 27:46)
We will more fully discuss the depths of this outcry in The Bible Says commentary for Matthew 27:46, but it is worth noting that the timing of Jesus’s cry and the isolation and emptiness He felt is linked to the darkness.
The divine relationship of the Trinity is the most foundational order of reality. How could the sun continue to shine forth when the eternal and fundamental relationship upon which the cosmos was created and is sustained had turned upon itself, and God was paradoxically forsaken of God? Nature itself shuddered at this appalling alienation.
As the Light of men (John 1:4) and the world (John 9:5) died, so did the sun hide its face from men and the world. Revelation tells us that in the new earth the light of Jesus will be so bright that there will be no need of the sun, for the Lamb (Jesus) will be its light (Revelation 21:23). This darkness is the polar opposite, where Jesus is on the earth bearing the sins of the world. Instead of being the light of the world, in this case Jesus is bearing the darkness of the world.
The crucifixion darkness echoed the emptiness, isolation, and inner darkness Jesus felt on the cross. His temporary separation of God the Father was disorienting. With His eternal relationship with God temporarily broken. It seems the only thing keeping Jesus from despairing into the abyss of this inner darkness was His faith and trust in God.
2. The Crucifixion Darkness and the Theme of Sin and Evil.
The crucifixion darkness was emblematic of the evil of the cross. The cross of Christ is associated with evil in three ways.
First, the crucifixion of Jesus was the most evil and unjust act ever committed in human history.
The Creator was destroyed by His creation. The righteous King of Israel was rejected by His own in murderous rebellion (John 1:11). Jesus, the sinless Savior was illegally condemned and viciously slaughtered by His religious enemies (Matthew 17:22). And under Pilate’s court, Jesus was tried and declared innocent (Luke 23:22), but flogged and crucified anyway (Matthew 27:24-26).
To see a list of laws the Jewish Council violated in their pursuit to condemn Jesus, see The Bible Says article: “Jesus’s Trial, Part 1. The Laws Broken by the Religious Leaders: A Summary.”
The crucifixion of Jesus was nothing less than the murder of Holy God by wicked sinners. No action has ever been more unjust than this. From this evil act, the sun hid its face in darkness.
Second, the darkness may have been emblematic of the spiritual conflict between Jesus as the Son of Man against the evil demonic forces that usurped Adam’s authority over creation.
The destiny of creation and who would have authority over it hung in the balance with Jesus on the cross as He waged war against His adversaries. God appointed humans to reign over creation in order to silence His enemies (Psalm 2). But when Adam fell, it appears Satan gained authority (John 12:31). When Jesus suffered and died, He regained the right for humans to reign, and Jesus was given all authority (Hebrews 2:5-9, Matthew 28:18).
Jesus was victorious over sin and death (Matthew 20:18, John 19:30, 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, Colossians 2:13-14). The obscuring of the sun in darkness may have been a physical manifestation of the spiritual war between the Son of God and the powers of evil spilling into the natural realm.
Third, and most profoundly, the darkness symbolized how the incarnate Word and sinless One became the incarnation of humanity’s sin during this terrible moment (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Just as the purity and righteousness of Jesus atoned for the depravity of iniquity and every evil transgression committed by man, likewise, the brilliance of daylight turned to its antithesis—darkness. The course of nature was reversed while the Holy One bore our evil for three hours on the cross.
3. The Crucifixion Darkness as a Sign of Mourning
The crucifixion darkness was a display divine grief as God the Father and God the Spirit mourned over the death of God the Son.
In Isaiah 50:1-2, the nation of Israel is personified as a wayward daughter who has fallen into ruin. The LORD describes the negative consequences of her choices and the uncomfortable outcomes of His judgments against her, even as He laments how she could have returned to Him for life. Then the LORD describes the grief that is to follow:
“I clothe the heavens with blackness
And make sackcloth their covering.”
(Isaiah 50:3)
The sorrow of the skies reflects both the tragic regret felt by daughter Israel and the grief of God (Israel’s Father) over His hurting child. But this passage in Isaiah is also prophetic of God the Father’s grief over His separation from God the Son and the ensuing darkness that fell upon all the land while Jesussuffered on the cross.
The Father in His grief is the One who clothed the heavens with blackness and who made sackcloth (clothes of mourning) the covering of the skies. The LORD claims personal responsibility for the crucifixion darkness in Isaiah 50:3, just as the LORD assumes responsibility for His Servant’s death in Isaiah 53:10.
God the Father mourns the death of His Son. Death is separation. We can surmise that Jesus’s human spirit died when His Father turned His back on Him. Possibly, for the first time in eternity, God the Son was separated from the love of God the Father. The darkness fell in recognition to this divine tragedy.
Jesus would also physically die on the cross. God clothed “the heavens with blackness and [made] sackcloth their covering” (Isaiah 50:3) as the Father mourned the spiritual and physical deaths of His Son.
4. The Crucifixion Darkness as a Display of God’s Judgment and Wrath
Out of the Bible’s four themes of darkness—emptiness, evil, mourning, and divine wrath—God’s judgment and wrath is foremost in the Old Testament, and therefore it would most likely have been foremost in the hearts of Jews at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion.
This is perhaps one reason why Matthew does not explicitly interpret the meaning of the crucifixion darkness for his Jewish readers. He did not have to. It’s general meaning was already apparent to them. Another reason Matthew may have avoided explaining its meaning was because all four themes applied and if he singled one theme out, it would potentially preclude the other themes.
By not providing further explanation about the darkness, Matthew let all four themes stand. At the same time, he could have confidence that the theme of divine judgment would be paramount on the mind of his target audience. Matthew’s subtlety, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was brilliant.
Jesus was crucified during the celebrations of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12, Luke 22:7-8, John 19:14). These were major holy days on the Jewish Calendar. Many, if not most, of Matthew’s primary audience would likely have been able to recall their own personal experience when darkness fell upon all the land during this holy festival. For this generation of Jews, the crucifixion darkness would likely have been thought of as something like “the Passover darkness.”
As explained above, most Jews who experienced this “Passover darkness” would likely have naturally associated it with God’s wrath. But even though Matthew’s primary readers may have been able to remember this troubling darkness, they would probably have been puzzled or confused as to why God was angry during that Passover. In other words, this “Passover darkness” would have indicated to Jews that God was angry, but they would not have known why He was angry. The cause of His wrath would have been an unsettling mystery to them.
Matthew’s Gospel provides the answer to their wondering when he writes that the Passover darkness took place when Jesus the Messiah was crucified.
There appear to be three ways the crucifixion darkness signified divine wrath and/or judgment.
The first way the crucifixion darkness signified divine wrath and/or judgment was a warning of God’s impending wrath upon the nation of Israel for crucifying the Messiah.
The people of Israel violently and blasphemously rejected Jesus as their Messiah (Matthew 27:25, John 19:15). The priests vehemently spurned Jesus’s confession that He was the Messiah and condemned Him for it (Matthew 26:63-68).
In 70 A.D., Roman armies would lay deadly siege to Jerusalem and utterly destroy the temple. This was within 40 years of the Jews’ rejection of the Messiah. Jesus predicted these terrible events (Matthew 24:1-2, Luke 23:28-31). With tears, He clearly warned them that this devastation would come as a result of their failure to recognize His identity as the Messiah (Luke 20:41-44).
The second way the crucifixion darkness signified divine wrath and/or judgment was that it symbolized God’s rejection of the priests and their sacrificial offering.
The crucifixion darkness seems to have been a particular warning to the priests who had illegally condemned Jesus the night before (Matthew 26:57-77, Mark 14:53-65, John 18:12-14, 18:19-24). The priests had worked hard to pressure Pilate into granting their wish to crucify Jesus at sunrise (Matthew 27:1-2, Mark 15:1, 15:11, Luke 23:1-2, John 18:28). Now—between the sixth and ninth hour—some of these very same priests were likely offering a sacrifice in the Temple while Jesus was offering Himself as a sacrifice on the cross (Isaiah 53:10, Matthew 20:28, John 12:24-33, 15:12-13, 1 Peter 2:24).
The sacrifice they were most likely performing at this time when the darkness fell upon all the land was the “the Chagigah” sacrifice.
The Chagigah sacrifice was offered during the three pilgrimage festivals of
Jews traveled to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple during these three festivals as commanded by Deuteronomy 16:16-17. The rules and rituals concerning the Chagigah offering and its consumption are explained in the Mishnah (the oral tradition of the Jews). These regulations can be found in the Mishnah tractate called “the Chagigah.” The Chagigah offering was typically offered in the afternoon between the sixth and ninth hour.
Many, if not most, of Matthew’s primary readers would have known the Chagigah sacrifice was offered during that timeframe.
Recalling the simplistic minimalism of Matthew’s account of the crucifixion darkness, he only mentions three key facts about it. These facts are:
Matthew spends more energy describing the timing of the crucifixion darkness than he does anything else about it. He does so for an important reason. Matthew's simple account of when the crucifixion darkness began and ended would likely have triggered an automatic link with the timing of the Chagigah sacrifice in the Temple for his intended audience. This seems to be one of Matthew’s main goals in mentioning the darkness and when it occurred.
The timing of the darkness that fell upon all the land would have signaled to the priests (who had just murdered Jesus) and Matthew’s primary readers that God had rejected the priests’ Chagigah sacrifice which was offered sometime during that darkness, between the sixth and ninth hour.
God’s apparent rejection of the priests’ Chagigah sacrifice was similar to how God rejected Cain’s sacrifice but accepted Abel’s (Genesis 4:3-4). So too, did God reject the priests’ sacrifice but accepted Jesus’s.
Moreover, Jesus’s sacrifice had just rendered the Chagigah and every other animal sacrifice obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). As the author of Hebrews goes on to explain:
“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God…”
(Hebrews 10:10-12)
This brings us to the third and final way the crucifixion darkness signified divine wrath and/or judgment.
The third way the crucifixion darkness was a display of divine wrath was as God’s wrathful judgment upon Jesus as He became all the sin of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The darkness from the sixth until the ninth hour depicted the cup of God’s wrath which Jesus prayed about in Gethsemane, asking God if there was a way He could avoid drinking it (Matthew 26:39, 42). But Jesus chose to drink it and accomplish His Father’s will. He chose to suffer and die for the sins of the world rather than follow His own natural desire to avoid this agony (Luke 22:42, Philippians 2:8).
The eerie darkness that enveloped the land during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ stands as a profound symbol of divine judgment. This supernatural event serves as a stark reminder of God's wrath poured out upon His Son as Jesus bore the sins of humanity upon the cross. Just as darkness shrouded the earth, so did the weight of human transgression descend upon the sinless Lamb of God.
As mentioned above, darkness often accompanies divine judgment, signifying the solemnity of God's righteous anger. In passages such as Isaiah 60:2 and Joel 2:31, darkness is portrayed as a precursor to “the day of the LORD,” a time of reckoning and judgment. This motif of darkness as a harbinger of divine wrath finds its ultimate fulfillment in the crucifixion darkness, where God the Father’s righteous indignation against sin was fully manifested upon God the Son.
As Jesus hung upon the cross, bearing the weight of humanity's sin, the darkness that engulfed all the land served as a tangible expression of God's judgment upon sin. In Isaiah 53:6, we read:
“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”
This profound exchange, where Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world (1 John 2:2), was symbolized by the darkness that veiled the earth. In this moment, Jesus faced the full fury of God’s wrath as He stood in our place. The darkness displayed the atoning terror of God’s judgement upon His Son (1 Peter 2:24). As Jesus became our sin, we have an opportunity to receive His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In a tangible sense then, God’s wrath against Jesus was a day of judgement upon every human sin before and since that awful moment. As Paul explains justification by faith in Romans 3:21-28. He teaches that it was because of the cross, that God “passed overs the sins previously committed” (Romans 3:25b). Thus, all of humanity can be reconciled with God in His sight through the sacrifice of Jesus if they believe in Him (Romans 4:1-3).
And the author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was “once for all” (Hebrews 10:10) and through it “He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).
The crucifixion darkness that accompanied God’s wrath was a precursor to the darkness of the Day of Judgment that is to come (Revelation 16:10). On that day, God’s wrath against the sins of the world will shroud the whole earth in darkness (Isaiah 60:2, Joel 2) like how it fell upon all the land when God’s wrath was unleashed upon Jesus as He became sin for us.
The darkness of the crucifixion underscores the severity of sin and the immense cost of our redemption.
At or near the conclusion of the darkness, Jesus groaned:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
(Matthew 27:46)
Among other things, Jesus’s lament alluded to the Psalm 22 prophetic utterances concerning the Messiah’s suffering. Moreover, it also gives us a glimpse into the agonizing separation Jesus endured as He bore the full weight of our sin. The darkness, then, becomes a poignant symbol of the price paid for our salvation, as Jesus willingly suffered the wrath of God on our behalf.
It is our choice whether our sin will be born by Jesus on the cross, or whether it will be judged in the future—where we will be condemned to pay its penalty of everlasting death. Unless we believe in Jesus, we too will experience a similar terror on our day of judgment and an everlasting darkness and agony when separated from God(John 3:18, Jude 1:13, Revelation 20:15).
The crucifixion darkness that fell upon all the land as Jesus was judged for our sins and was forsaken of God is therefore a grave warning of God’s impending judgment against our own sin. We can either gain the full benefit of Jesus enduring our sin if we believe or experience that separation and darkness ourselves if we do not believe in Jesus.
At the same time, it is a profound reminder of the depth of God’s unfathomable love for us and the far-reaching extent of His mercy and grace as Jesus willingly bore our sins. Jesus endured the darkness of divine wrath so that we might receive forgiveness and redemption (John 3:16, 1 John 4:9-10).
Jesus experienced the agonizing darkness of wrath and judgment on the cross, so we would not have to. He tasted the bitter cup of God’s wrath so that we could live in the light.
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
(John 12:46)
In summary, the crucifixion darkness signified the following things:
(Matthew 27:46, John 1:4-5)
(Matthew 27:46)
(Luke 22:53b)
(John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:21)
(Isaiah 50:3, Amos 8:10)
(Matthew 12:38-45)
(Matthew 27:45)
(1 Corinthians 5:21)
THE CRUCIFIXION DARKNESS AS FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
Matthew’s mentioning of the darkness that fell upon the land from the sixth until the ninth hour during Jesus’s crucifixion was yet another allusion to numerous prophetic fulfillments.
Before we cite them, it is important to note that these prophecies apparently have multiple fulfillments. One fulfillment occurred when darkness fell upon all the land during Jesus’s crucifixion; another fulfillment will be during the end times when God judges the world for its sin (Revelation 16:10).
The first prophetic fulfillment of the crucifixion darkness concerns God the Father’s grief over the death of His Son and comes from the book of Isaiah:
1. “I clothe the heavens with blackness
And make sackcloth their covering.”
(Isaiah 50:3)
Perhaps the most striking and specific of these prophecies are from Amos, who predicted how darkness would blot out the noon sun on the day of judgment:
2. “‘It will come about in that day,’ declares the LORD God,
‘That I will make the sun go down at noon
And make the earth dark in broad daylight.’”
(Amos 8:9)
Amos accurately predicted the timing of the crucifixion darkness. He said: “the sun would go down at noon” (Amos 8:9). Matthew, Mark, and Luke are clear: Now from the sixth hour (12:00 noon) darkness fell upon all the land (Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44).
Amos’s prophecy continues with additional specifics about the crucifixion darkness,
“Then I will turn your festivals into mourning
And all your songs into lamentation.”
(Amos 8:10a)
Amos accurately predicted that the darkness would occur during a time of festivals. Jesus was arrested on the night of Passover and crucified hours later during the festival of Unleavened Bread.
To learn more about these festivals, see The Bible Says article: “The Original Passover.”
Finally, Amos predicts that the darkness will be like a time of mourning for an only son,
“And I will bring sackcloth on everyone’s loins
And baldness on every head.
And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.”
(Amos 8:10b)
Jesus was God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16). As with the prophecy from Isaiah 50:3, Amos 8:10 describes the darkness as a bitter display of the Father’s divine grief over the death of His only Son.
Here is a list of ten more prophecies concerning the day of judgment and God’s wrath against sin which the crucifixion darkness fulfilled.
3. “And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds.”
(Isaiah 5:30)
4. “Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.”
(Isaiah 8:22)
5. “For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light.”
(Isaiah 13:10)
6. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples.”
(Isaiah 60:2a)
7. “‘And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.
All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you
And will set darkness on your land,’
Declares the LORD God.”
(Ezekiel 32:7-8)
8. “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the LORD is coming;
Surely it is near,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.”
(Joel 2:1b-2a)
9. “Before them the earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.”
(Joel 2:10)
10. “Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, for what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not light…Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?”
(Amos 5:18, 20)
11. “A day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
(Zephaniah 1:15)
12. “In that day there will be no light.”
(Zechariah 14:6a)
These prophecies show how the crucifixion darkness was not some haphazard occurrence. Rather it was a preordained event. Indeed, the darkness was a prophetic sign. These ancient prophets, speaking centuries prior, predicted how darkness would fall upon the whole land when the Messiah suffered and died for the sins of the world.
Matthew's account lacks a direct reference linking the crucifixion darkness to these prophecies, indicating his confidence in his Jewish audience's familiarity with scripture. He appeared to trust that they would recognize their fulfillment without explicit explanation. Additionally, Matthew may have felt that providing an explanation might encumber his narrative with unnecessary commentary as it drew to a climax.
EXTRA-BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS OF THE CRUCIFIXION DARKNESS
Because God’s word is true, there is no need for further evidence to prove or verify the crucifixion darkness as a fact. However, in addition to the Gospel records and the Old Testament prophecies concerning the darkness that fell over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour during Jesus’s crucifixion, there were also extra-biblical observations of this event.
A word of caution must be given before we proceed. Most of the references cited below have one or more “compromises” that make them less than fully reliable.
Jewish Account of the Crucifixion Darkness
1. Jerusalem Talmud
A possible Jewish record of the crucifixion darkness comes from the Jerusalem Talmud:
“It has been taught: Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the western light went out.”
(Jerusalem Talmud, Yoma 6.3.6)
The temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. This destruction was itself predicted by Jesus when He told His disciples:
“Do you not see all these things [the temple buildings]? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”
(Matthew 24:2)
Jesus prophesied this destruction approximately forty years before it took place and mere days before His own execution and the crucifixion darkness.
The “western light” which the Jerusalem Talmud most likely refers to is the menorah in the Temple—which signified a loss of God’s presence. With a bit of a speculative leap, “western light” could also be interpreted to mean the western (i.e. the afternoon) sun. It is also possible that western light could refer to both the menorah and the afternoon sun which “was obscured” during Jesus’s final three hours on the cross (Luke 23:45).
Additionally, there are various Gentile reports from ancient sources about a strange darkness that occurred around the time of Jesus’s crucifixion. For what they are worth, most of these reports survive indirectly and are therefore difficult to substantiate and should be accepted with caution. All of the Greco-Roman references listed below are from Christians who are repeating what non-Christians have supposedly observed about the crucifixion darkness. While this fact does not in itself invalidate the claims, these records would be considered more historically reliable according to modern standards if:
neutral or hostile to the claims of Christianity
Greco-Roman Accounts of the Crucifixion Darkness
2. Dionysius the Areopagite
The first Gentile report is from a Greek scientist named Dionysius who allegedly witnessed the crucifixion darkness personally from the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (“city of the sun”). Ironically, Dionysius was in the city of the sun when the sun was obscured.
According to a letter attributed to Dionysius, he:
“saw the moon approaching the sun, to our surprise (for it was not appointed time for conjunction); and again, from the ninth hour to the evening, supernaturally placed back again into a line opposite the sun.”
(Dionysius the Aeropagite—Letter to Polycarp, section 2)
The authenticity of Dionysius’s Letter to Polycarp is questionable.
Elsewhere, Dionysius is alleged to have commented to a friend when he experienced the darkness: “Either the Deity is suffering, or sympathizing with some sufferer.” If he said this, Dionysius was correct on both accounts. Jesus, the Son of God, was suffering on the cross during this darkness and He was sympathizing with the sinners He came to save.
This same Dionysius is believed to be one of Paul’s converts from his discussions with the philosophers on the Areopagus (Mars Hill) in Athens (Acts 17:34). If all these things are true, the pagan Dionysius observed and noted the crucifixion darkness when it happened, and later came to know its fuller meaning when he believed in Jesus upon meeting Paul in Athens.
3. Phlegon
The early church figure Jerome (347-420 A.D.) quoted Phlegon of Tralles, who wrote a compilation of historical and major natural events stretching back to the time of the first Olympic games called “The Olympiad.” Phlegon wrote during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.) He wrote:
“However in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea.”
(Jerome, Chronicles. Olympiad 202)
The church historian Eusebius (260-339 A.D.) also mentioned Phlegon’s reference to the crucifixion darkness. Phlegon’s direct quote, however, seems to have been lost to history.
4. Thallus
Julius Africanus (160—240 A.D), another ancient Christian writer, summarized an account by Thallus (1st-2nd Century Historian) who discussed how the whole world was pressed under a most fearful darkness from some sort of eclipse.
“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”
(Julius Africanus, “Extant Fragments of the Chronography 18).
The reason Julius disparages Thallus for describing this event as an eclipse is because eclipses cannot naturally occur during the middle of a moon cycle. Jewish months are based on the lunar calendar. Jesus was crucified during Passover, most likely the first day of Unleavened Bread which occurred on Nisan 15—the middle of the month when eclipses do not occur.
5. Tertullian
Other Christian writers, such as Tertullian (155—220 A.D.), called upon Roman officials to check their records and verify the crucifixion darkness:
“In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.”
(Tertullian, Apology 21)
As late as two hundred years after the event itself, Tertullian believed the Romans still had ready access to these records of the crucifixion darkness in their astronomical archives.
Possible Chinese accounts of the Crucifixion Darkness
6. “Yin and Yang have mistakenly switched, and the sun and moon were eclipsed. The sins of all the people are now on one man. Pardon is proclaimed to all under heaven.”
(History of Latter Han Dynasty, 1. Chronicles Of Emperor Guang Wu, 7th Year)
7. “Eclipse on the day of Gui Hai, Man from Heaven died.”
(History of Latter Han, Annals, No. 18, Gui Hai)
Once again, we must be cautious in putting too much stock in these indirect and ancient, second or even thirdhand accounts because they are indirect. Nevertheless since scripture is reliable we should not be surprised to find allusions to such an unusual event in contemporary records.
If these accounts are accurate, then the crucifixion darkness appears to have encompassed large portions of the earth including Judea, Egypt, Asia Minor (and presumably other parts of the Roman Empire), and possibly all the way to China in the far East.
The crucifixion darkness was a mysterious and profound event, a display of divine wrath and mourning during the cosmic upheaval surrounding the Son of God’s death. Predicted in Biblical prophecy and recorded in the Gospels, and seemingly observed and noted by the wider world, this most unusual darkness between the sixth and ninth hours of the day heralded the atoning sacrifice of Christ where divine judgment and divine mercy intersect.
In the next verse, Jesus personally describes His horrifying experience of crucifixion darkness when He “cried out with a loud, voice saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46). This verse is the next passage in The Bible Says commentary.