Was there an eclipse on the Crucifixion?

The Gospels describe three nighttimes from noon on the crucifixion of Jesus, prompting debate over whether this was an eclipse. This is the story …

The Crucifixion account

The story of the crucifixion is so vital that it is roofed in all 4 Gospel accounts within the New Testament. Three of them, generally known as the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all describe a darkness over the land. In Matthew it says: “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all of the land unto the ninth hour” (Matthew 27:45, KJV). Mark states: “And when the sixth hour had come, darkness got here over all of the earth until the ninth hour” (Mark 15:33, KJV). Matthew and Mark report “darkness over all of the land” without specifying the cause. The sixth hour was measured from dawn, so that they meant what we call noon.

Symbolism of darkness

Many people see a fulfilment of prophecy from Isaiah, who prophesied, “I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering” (Isaiah 50:3); and from Amos, who prophesied, “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I’ll cause the sun to go down at noon, and I’ll darken the earth within the clear day” (Amos 8:9). Others point to Joel, who prophesied: “The sun will probably be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the approaching of the nice and glorious day of the LORD” (Joel 2:32).

The word “eclipse”

The concept that there was an eclipse on the crucifixion comes from the Greek word “ἐκλιπόντος” (eklipontos), which appears in the unique text of the account present in Luke 23:45. The Greek word “ἐκλείπω” (ekleipo) is the origin of the English word “eclipse”. In English, as in Greek, it will probably mean something is darkened or obscured. The Greek word has come into English for use mainly within the astronomical sense of the obscuring of the sun or the moon, as in solar and lunar eclipses. In English, the word “eclipse” can be used metaphorically, akin to in Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 hit song “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, or in phrases like “His fame was eclipsed by a newcomer” or “The war has eclipsed all other issues within the news”.

Astronomical eclipses

The planet Earth orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit every year, and the moon revolves across the Earth in an orbit every month. Sometimes the moon is directly between the Earth and the sun, or the Earth is directly between the sun and the moon. The moon goes through phases: when one face is fully visible, it is named a “full moon”; at other times there’s a half-moon, a crescent moon, or a “recent moon”, when the moon is almost invisible.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, temporarily blocking the daylight and casting a dark shadow upon the Earth. Because the sun is behind the moon, it appears as a “recent moon”. In contrast, a lunar eclipse happens when the Earth positions itself between the sun and a “full moon”, when the side facing Earth is illuminated. When the Earth blocks all sunlight to the moon, it causes the Earth’s shadow to fall on the moon, making it appear reddish as a substitute of white – sometimes called a “blood moon”.

When the moon blocks the sun in a solar eclipse, it creates a darkness on Earth called an umbra. During a complete solar eclipse, sunlight is blocked out by the moon, and the a part of the Earth where the shadow falls step by step becomes dark, like night-time. A complete solar eclipse is a spectacular event, and folks sometimes travel far to experience one. For example, one occurred within the UK on August 11, 1999, and one other within the USA on April 8, 2024.

Was there an eclipse on the Crucifixion?

Over time, people have speculated whether the darkness on the crucifixion could possibly be explained by an eclipse. So, could there have been a solar eclipse at the moment?

Early English versions like Tyndale’s follow the “darkening” sense without using eclipse terminology, but a number of English translations have rendered the Greek words as “eclipse of the sun”. The British New Testament in Modern English, translated by J. B. Phillips, renders Luke 23:44–45b as: “It was now about midday, but darkness got here over the entire countryside until three within the afternoon, for there was an eclipse of the sun.” Likewise, the American Catholic New American Bible (NAB) and the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), utilized in U.S. Catholic churches, read: “It was now about noon and darkness got here over the entire land until three within the afternoon due to an eclipse of the sun.”

Most translations into English don’t translate the Greek word “ἐκλιπόντος” as “eclipse”, regardless that they appear similar. In 1526, William Tyndale translated Luke 23:44–45b as: “And it was in regards to the sixth hour. And there got here a darkness over all of the land until the ninth hour, and the sun was darkened.” The King James Version kept this as “And the sun was darkened”. The Good News Bible has: “It was about twelve o’clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the entire country until three o’clock.”

Problems with the eclipse theory

There are three problems with the speculation that the darkness was a solar eclipse. Astronomical software, using scientific data, can now determine precisely where and when eclipses occur, and it will probably also calculate when and where they occurred up to now. No solar eclipse occurred within the Holy Land in the course of the period AD 29 to 36, which is the range through which the crucifixion is dated. In any case, a solar eclipse doesn’t last three hours; at most, total darkness lasts about seven and a half minutes. It is a transient event and doesn’t last for hours, even when one had occurred.

Passover

However, there’s a more fundamental reason why there was no solar eclipse on the crucifixion: it took place just after Passover. In the Bible, the timing of Passover is predicated on the lunar calendar. Passover’s date is tied on to the Hebrew calendar within the month of Nisan and begins at sunset on or very near a full moon. It commemorates the Exodus, with the Passover lamb slaughtered on the 14th of Nisan at twilight (Exodus 12:6), just because the moon is waxing full. Technically, Passover begins on the evening of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox. Therefore, there couldn’t have been a solar eclipse on the crucifixion, because a solar eclipse requires a recent moon, not a full moon. Although there might conceivably have been a lunar eclipse within the evening, it could not have darkened the land.

Conclusion

Solar eclipses last minutes, not hours, and require a recent moon, not Passover’s full moon. Therefore, the darkness on the crucifixion was not a solar eclipse. The sun could have been obscured, nevertheless it was not eclipsed by the moon.