And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:33
"The preternatural darkness reported at Jesus’ crucifixion was no metaphor. It was a real historical event based on eyewitness accounts and independently corroborated by a number of highly qualified ancient historians.
Rudolph Pesch, the German New Testament scholar, dates the source for Mark’s passion narrative no later thanAD37 based on language, style, grammar, and personal references. This is a maximum of four years after the actual event! It can be conclusively stated that the Gospel accounts of the darkness at the crucifixion are extremely early, reliable, and based on eyewitnesses.
Eclipses do not set off earthquakes and bodily resurrections. We also know that eclipses only last for several minutes, not three hours.
The Greek has the usual word for earth, gē, here, from which we derive ‘geology’. The language of most translations appears to strongly suggest that the darkness was a local or regional phenomenon, which is a possible rendition in some contexts.
All the same, if it was regional, it was over an extensive region. Dr. Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, notes "This phenomenon, evidently, was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Mediterranean cities."
On the other hand, Africanus writes of the darkness as a global event. Tertullian, the famous second century apologist, also hails the darkness as a ‘cosmic’ or ‘world event’. Appealing to skeptics, he wrote:
CMI
Mark 15:33
"The preternatural darkness reported at Jesus’ crucifixion was no metaphor. It was a real historical event based on eyewitness accounts and independently corroborated by a number of highly qualified ancient historians.
Rudolph Pesch, the German New Testament scholar, dates the source for Mark’s passion narrative no later thanAD37 based on language, style, grammar, and personal references. This is a maximum of four years after the actual event! It can be conclusively stated that the Gospel accounts of the darkness at the crucifixion are extremely early, reliable, and based on eyewitnesses.
Eclipses do not set off earthquakes and bodily resurrections. We also know that eclipses only last for several minutes, not three hours.
The Greek has the usual word for earth, gē, here, from which we derive ‘geology’. The language of most translations appears to strongly suggest that the darkness was a local or regional phenomenon, which is a possible rendition in some contexts.
All the same, if it was regional, it was over an extensive region. Dr. Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, notes "This phenomenon, evidently, was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Mediterranean cities."
On the other hand, Africanus writes of the darkness as a global event. Tertullian, the famous second century apologist, also hails the darkness as a ‘cosmic’ or ‘world event’. Appealing to skeptics, he wrote:
At the moment of Christ’s death, the light departed from the sun, and the land was darkened at noonday, which wonder is related in your own annals, and is preserved in your archives to this day.Apparently, Tertullian could state with confidence that documentation of the darkness could be found in legitimate historical archives."
CMI
