Verse 44
And it was now about the sixth hour, and a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun's light failing; and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
These verses introduce two of the Calvary miracles, of which there are seven; and they are important enough to warrant extensive treatment, which will be found in my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:51, where thirteen pages are devoted to "Phenomena Accompanying the Crucifixion and Resurrection." These great wonders were "signs" in the supernatural sense, attesting the godhead of Jesus Christ. No rationalistic explanation of these occurrences is possible. For example:
"Probably Mark's version was intended to imply an eclipse, but Luke makes this explanation explicit."[24] Gilmour here relied upon a false reading of the sacred text. The Greek says, "the sun's light failing" (English Revised Version (1885) margin), Besides that, no eclipse ever lasted any longer than about an hour; and also it was the full moon! One may not suppose that the learned physician Luke was ignorant of so basic a fact as this, or that he intended here to assert an impossibility such as an eclipse of the sun at Passover! It is not LUKE'S ignorance which shines in an attempted rationalization such as this! It is Gilmour's.
Another example: "Matthew also points out that the earth quaked, which may have caused the rent veil"![25] Indeed, Indeed! Was there ever on this earth a shaking that could tear even a piece of cloth in two? Furthermore, the temple was not shaken at all in that earthquake mentioned by Matthew; and, in addition, the veil was rent squarely in two parts "from the top to the bottom," not from the bottom upward, a phenomenon that was witnessed by the entire company of temple priests, and which probably accounts for the conversion of so many of them (Acts 6:7).
[24] S. MacLean Gilmour, The Interpreter's Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1952), p. 412.
[25] Herschel H. Hobbs, op. cit., p. 338.
Be the first to react on this!
