Bible Questions and Answer

Matthew, Mark and Luke all say that when Jesus was on the cross, darkness came over the whole land from noon until three in the afternoon. It couldn't have been a solar eclipse, since Passover happened at full moon, when an eclipse of the sun is impossible. Amos 8:9 says, "In that day, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight." The next verse is striking: "I will make that time like mourning for an only son." Amos was talking about God's judgment on Israel, but many readers see an amazing match with the crucifixion. Darkness at noon, and mourning for an only son. An early Christian writer, Julius Africanus, said a historian named Thallus tried to explain the darkness as an eclipse, which Africanus rejected. In the Bible, darkness often signals God's judgment. At the cross, many Christians believe Jesus bore that judgment for others.