By Rodger C.

Young
In the closing days of his life, Herod the Great was presented
with a crisis called the golden eagle incident. Herod had placed
a golden eagle over the entrance to the temple. Although he
professed that it was an offering dedicated to the Lord, it was
regarded as a desecration of the temple by two rabbis, Matthias
and Judas, who provoked a group of more than 40 individuals into
pulling down the eagle. Herods soldiers captured and executed
many of the participants; Matthias and Judas were burned alive.
After relating this sordid incident, Josephus comments that the
night after Matthias and Judas were executed by burning, there
was an eclipse of the moon (Antiquities 17.6.24/17.14967).
This is the only reference to a lunar eclipse in all the
writings of Josephus. Perhaps a modern historian would not
have mentioned it, judging that an astronomical event like an
eclipse is independent of the activities of man, unless it preceded
some important occasion such as a battle and so in!uenced a
decision such as whether or not to go to war. In the ancient
world, however, an eclipse was regarded as an omen or portent
whenever it happened. For Josephus, the eclipse in the night after
Herod put to death the two protesters was a sign of displeasure
from God. This is shown by the fact that Josephus describes,
immediately after the mention of the eclipse, Herods physical
suffering, a suffering from which he could "nd no relief until
his death at some time between the eclipse and Passover. In the
Antiquities passage, the eclipse and Herods torment signi"ed
the same thing: Gods solemn judgment on Herod after he put to
death individuals more righteous than himself.

Jonah and the Bur-Sagale Eclipse

Another famous eclipse, this time of the sun, may have
played a part in the account of Jonah and the Ninevites. The
time of Jonahs preaching in Nineveh can only be estimated
very generally from the Bible. Second Kings 14:25 says that
Jeroboam II, king of Israel, restored the northern and eastern
Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

borders of Israel according to the word of the Lord spoken by the

prophet Jonah, son of Amittai. Jeroboam II began a coregency
with his father Jehoash in 793/92 BC and reigned alone from
782/81 to late summer or early fall of 753 (Thiele 1983: 116;
McFall 1991: 45; Young 2005: 245). Assuming that Jonahs
prophecy of restoration came early in the reign of Jeroboam,
Jonahs ministry would have been in the "rst half of the eighth
century BC, i.e. from about 793 to 750 BC. During this time
the Assyrian Eponym Canon records an eclipse of the sun that
occurred in the eponym of Bur-Sagale, in the month of Simanu.
Modern astronomical calculations date this eclipse to June
15, 763 BC, and show it was a total eclipse as it passed near
Nineveh.1 For historians, the importance of this eclipse is that
it provided an absolute date that allowed assigning BC years
to the yearly eponyms of the Assyrian Eponym Canon (AEC).
The accuracy of the AEC dates was later con"rmed when new
inscriptions were found, and also when compared to the data
derived from Ptolemys Canon for the century for which the
Canon overlaps with the AEC, 747 to 648 BC (Thiele 1983: 71).
Could the Bur-Sagale eclipse be part of the reason why Jonah,
when he "nally got to Nineveh, found a city that was serious
about repentance? This has been suggested by various writers,
and if true it would suggest that Jonahs trip to Nineveh took
place during the reign of Ashur-Dan III, who reigned from 773 to
755 BC. But the eclipse was not the only calamity during AshurDans reign. The AEC recounts a plague in 765, the eclipse and
a revolt in the city of Ashur in 763, a revolt in Ashur again in
762, a revolt in Arrapha in 761 and 760, and a plague plus a
revolt in the city of Guzana in 759. The year 758 was marked by
a campaign against Guzana and then peace in the land, after
which the king remained in the land for the following two
years. Although there were military campaigns in 755, 754, 749,
and 748, the AEC does not list any misfortune until the city of
Calah revolted in 746 BC, which was the ninth year of AshurDans brother and successor, Ashur-Nirari V. The Assyrians
regarded plagues and eclipses as divine signs of judgment for the
whole land (Wiseman 1979: 44). The plague of 765, followed by
37

BC and Passover that year, insufcient

for the many activities that Josephus
relates happened during that time,
whereas there were an adequate 89
days between the eclipse of January
10, 1 BC and Passover that year. In
addition only about one-fourth of the
moon was fully eclipsed in 4 BC,
whereas in 1 BC the eclipse was total.2
W.E. Filmer, writing in 1966, also
corrected the notion that Herod died in
4 BC by showing that this date arose
because historians did not realize that
Herods sons back-dated their reigns
to 4 BC. Herod had assigned them to
various posts at that time, although
they did not begin their independent
reigns until 1 BC when Herod died.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=-07620615 Filmers ideas were accepted in Jack
NASA graphic showing the path of the solar eclipse of June 15, 763 BC. The eclipse Finegans Handbook of Biblical
would have been seen as total in the area between the blue lines. The site of ancient Nineveh Chronology (1998: 298301), and
(the city) is about four miles northeast of the center of the modern city of Mosul, Iraq; the have been expanded and defended by
province of Nineveh occupied a considerably larger territory. If this NASA reconstruction is
Andrew Steinmann (2009; 2011: 219
correct, the eclipse would have been observed as only partial in the city, but total just a few
54). Steinmann also discusses new
miles further north. The fact that modern astronomical programs show the eclipse as only
partial in the city itself has led some investigators to surmise that the eclipse mentioned research on the Quirinius Census (Lk
as occurring in the eponym of Bur-Sagale was some other eclipse at a different date. 2:12) that agrees with the 1 BC date
This is usually done to support alternative biblical chronologies that do not agree with the for Herods death. These more recent
conventional interpretation of the Assyrian Eponym Canon (AEC). However, it is precisely studies are consistent with the writings
in the eighth century BC that the AEC is most assured of being correct, because various of the majority of early Church
copies of the AEC have been found that overlap this time, and these in turn overlap the Fathers, who dated Jesus birth, which
reigns of the kings of Assyria and Babylon given in Ptolemys Canon, which begins in 747 BC. necessarily was before the death of
Herod, to sometime in either late 3 BC
a revolt and eclipse in 763 and then revolts in the following four or early 2 BC. The many considerations that support Herods
years would only conrm in the mind of the Assyrians that they death occurring in early 1 BC are therefore in agreement with
were under divine displeasure. It is then appealing to think that the dates of lunar eclipses and dates for the start of Passover
the year of peace in 758 and the lack of rebellions and plagues in the years 5 to 1 BC, as calculated by modern astronomical
in the following 11 years were a consequence of Gods mercy methods.
because of the repentance of the nation. If so, this would date
Jonahs appearance at Nineveh to 759 or 758 BC.
Year of the Cruci!xion

The New Testament: When Did

Herod the Great Die?
Such a correlation of Jonahs ministry with the Bur-Sagale
eclipse and other events in Assyrian history is speculative.
In contrast, the usefulness of astronomy in determining the
chronology of two important New Testament events is now on
a rm footing. The rst of these is the date of Herods death, for
which the lunar eclipse on the night after the burning of Matthias
and Judas plays a decisive role. For many years the prevailing
opinion was that the eclipse mentioned by Josephus was the
one that modern astronomical calculations date to the 13th of
March, 4 BC. However, in 1880, F. Riess stated that Herod did
not die in 4 BC, but soon after the eclipse in 1 B.C., because
the other data, namely the numerous events that took place
between the eclipse and the Passover, could not be squeezed
into the four weeks available in 4 B.C. (Filmer 1966: 284).
There were only 29 days between the eclipse of March 13, 4
38

Astronomy again comes into play in the discussion of the

year in which the Messiah was put to death and rose victorious
from the grave. The four Gospels relate that the Crucixion
took place on the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath, i.e. on
a Friday. It was also the 14th of Nisan according to the ofcial
Jewish calendar in use in the rst century AD. Astronomical
calculations allow only two years in the range from AD 26 to
AD 36 in which Nisan 14, the rst day of Passover, was a Friday.
The years are AD 30 and AD 33. The rst of these has been
advocated by several writers who maintained that the 15th year
of Tiberius cited in Luke 3:1 for the start of Jesus ministry refers
to the 15th year of an assumed coregency between Augustus
and Tiberius that began sometime between AD 11 and AD
13, rather than starting the 15 years at the death of Augustus
in AD 14. However, all extant coins and inscriptions date the
reign of Tiberius as beginning in AD 14. The age of Jesus when
He began His ministry, about 30 (Luke 3:23), is also more
consistent with the Crucixion in AD 33 than in AD 30, as
Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

are events related to Roman policy and the actions of Pilate.

A full discussion of the issues involved is found in Andrew
Steinmanns From Abraham to Paul, page 219 n. 329 and pages
257 to 289.3 Jack Finegan, who previously advocated AD 30
for the Cruci!xion and Resurrection, now advocates AD 33
(1998: 340, 368). In these considerations, astronomy narrowed
down the possible years to two choices. Other criteria were then
employed to decide between the two choices, criteria that rule
quite de!nitely against AD 30 in favor of AD 33. The death
of Christ therefore was on Nisan 14 (Friday, April 3), and His
Resurrection on Sunday, April 5, AD 33.

The Lunar Eclipse of April 3, AD 33

Jerusalem time.
In determining what the eclipse looked like, Waddington
took into account other phenomena that physicists have studied
related to the appearance of the sun or the moon at sunset. These
phenomena are well known and may be observed on any clear
evening. The !rst is that the moon or sun appears somewhat
oblate due to the refraction of the earths atmosphere. The second
is that, because there is more atmosphere for the suns or moons
light to go through at sunset, the shorter blue wavelengths are
!ltered out, resulting in the familiar red color of either celestial
body at this time. In the case of an eclipsed moon, there would be
the extra darkness of the earths shadow on the face of the moon.
Further, some of the light re"ected back from the moon would

In 1872, J.R. Hind published a paper in the British

scienti!c journal Nature in which he noted that the
moon was eclipsed on the generally received date of
the Cruci!xion, AD 33, April 3.4 Bible scholars paid
little or no attention to this observation, because the best
astronomical calculations available at the time showed
that the eclipse would not have been visible from
Jerusalem. In the 20th century, however, there was a
major advance in the accuracy of historical astronomical
calculations, due largely to studies of the change of the
earths rate of rotation over the centuries. Using ancient
astronomical observations from Babylon and China,
the rate of slowing of the earths rotation is now known
precisely enough so that the timing of events such as the
rising of the moon or the sun as viewed from any point on
earth and at any time in the last 2000 years can be known
within about three minutes (Humphreys 2011: 90).
In 1981, a British scientist who had learned of the
improvements in astronomical accuracy thought it might
be interesting to revisit calculations for the eclipse of AD
33. Colin Humphreys, who was teaching at Oxford at the
time, asked Oxford astrophysicist Graem Waddington
Steven A. Austin
to determine whether the lunar eclipse would have Dead Sea varves, showing the perturbation caused by an earthquake
been visible at Jerusalem, and if so, at what time it that geologists date to sometime in AD 31, plus or minus !ve years.
would have been observed. Very !ttingly, their !ndings The head of a geologists pick is shown for scale. According to geologist
were published in the same scienti!c journal that had Steven Austin, the historical accounts in the gospels allow specifying
published Hinds study 111 years earlier (Humphreys the date as April 3, AD 33, the day of the Cruci!xion (Austin 2012), a
and Waddington 1983). The results were as follows. speci!cation that is more exact than is possible using geology alone.
Moonrise in Jerusalem on the evening of Friday, April Varves are layers formed by deposition of silt and/or pollen and other
3, AD 33 was at about 6:20 p.m., right after sunset. organic material at the bottom of lakes. Due to a difference in runoff from
the surrounding terrain in the various seasons of the year, a single varve
The part of the moon that appeared !rst was in the full layer usually consists of paired dark and light bands that represent one
shadow (the umbra) of the earth. After several minutes, years activity. Varves are therefore similar to tree-rings, and the counting
the remainder of the moon was seen; this lower part was of varves can be used to determine the number of elapsed years since a
in the partial shadow of the earth (the penumbra). The particular varve was formed.
eclipse lasted until about 7:11 p.m., at which time the
moon was restored to its usual brightness and coloration.
The accuracy of Waddingtons calculations has been have passed through the earths atmosphere twice, adding to the
demonstrated by the acceptance of the paper by Nature, a peer- reddening. These considerations for the special case of a lunar
reviewed scienti!c journal that would not have printed the paper eclipse viewed at sunset mean that the fully eclipsed portion
if there was anything wrong with its science. Waddingtons would not be just red, but dark red. Blood red. The portion in
calculation is also in general agreement with NASA !gures the penumbra (partial shadow) would show a lighter hue, red or
for this eclipse, although the NASA chart5 suggests that the possibly orange/yellow.
eclipse would have been visible for several minutes longer
This phenomenon (the reddening of an eclipsed moon as seen
than Waddingtons estimate that ended the eclipse at 7:11 p.m. at sunset) has been observed in modern times, and observers
Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

39

have used just this terminology: the moon appeared blood red.
In January 2001 an eclipse of the moon was visible from Wales
at sunset. The front page of The Times for January 10, 2001
showed a picture of the moon with a caption underneath reading
The blood-red moon over the Welsh borders last night. The
accompanying write-up continued with, Thousands of people
who braved freezing temperatures to watch last nights total lunar
eclipse were rewarded with a stunning view of one of natures
marvels: the Moon turned blood-red (Humphreys 2011: 86).
The Daily Mail for this date used the same expression: The
rst total lunar eclipse of the 21st century turned the moon blood
red.

to make crucixion a very visible event, as a warning against

anyone else attempting the crimes for which the victims were
being punished. To that end, Jesus and the two thieves were
crucied by a public road, outside the city wall, with the charges
against them prominently displayed. The Passover in AD 33,
intended as a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving over Gods
great deliverance in the past, had instead assumed an ominous,
hateful, and tragic nature.
The Gospel writers describe further disturbances. About noon
a darkness overtook the land that lasted for three hours. We are
not told whether it was caused by clouds or a dust storm. Then at
approximately 3 p.m., when the Figure on the central cross died,
there was an earthquakesomething
that we no longer associate with divine
displeasure, but which must have
had this signicance for at least one
individual, a Roman centurion who
was stationed near the cross of Jesus.
With more insight and acuity than
possessed by many modern critics
of the Gospel accounts, this soldier
concluded that the righteous man who
had just died was truly Gods Son.
After the earthquake, there may
have been a respite from the troubling
phenomena of nature. The darkness
lifted; the atmosphere became clear
again. The terrifying sight outside
the city wall came to an end as three
bodies were removed from public
display and buried. Soon there would
be the appearance of the Passover
moon. In the wisdom of God, the
feast of Passover always took place
in the middle of the lunar month,
NASA 2011 guaranteeing that a full moon would
NASA image of a total lunar eclipse, as viewed at sunset. In this image, the moon is in illuminate the nighttime activities of
the full geometric shadow (the umbra) of the earth. That does not mean, however, that no the festival. Everyone knew that the
light from the sun was getting through to the surface of the moon and being re!ected back comforting sight of the rising full
to earth. In a total lunar eclipse, some sunlight is bent slightly while passing through the moon could be expected right around
earths atmosphere and reaches the surface of the moon. It is then re!ected back, passing
sunset.
once again through much more atmosphere than when the moon is viewed higher in the
Shortly after the sun set in the west,
sky. The shorter (blue) wavelengths are "ltered out on both passages through the earths atthe
moon rose in the east. It was dark.
mosphere, resulting in the unusual color of a the umbral part of a lunar eclipse when viewed
Dark red. Bloody red.
at sunset, a color described as blood red by modern observers.
If God spoke to people in ancient
times, we would not expect Him to
The day of the AD 33 eclipseFriday, April 3must have use a modern language such as French or English. We would
been a difcult one for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The city expect Him to use as His medium of communication a language
was crowded; Jewish people and proselytes had gathered from that they would understand. For the Jews, this would be Hebrew
all areas of the land and from far countries for the celebration or Aramaic. In the modern world, an eclipse of the sun or moon
of the Passover. For some, the day had started before dawn with should not convey any message of divine displeasure or coming
a mob scene before the Roman governor and before their own judgment. We pride ourselves on our scientic knowledge; these
leaders, in which they had been incited to demand the death are natural phenomena, the cause of which, and the timing of
of the miracle-worker from Galilee. Mob hysteria is always which, are well understood, and their meaning to us is only that
emotionally taxing, but even more so when the emotions are the laws of physics are being obeyed. However, that was not
being manipulated toward putting someone to death. Once the the signicance that the people of Israel would have assigned to
consent of Pilate was obtained, there followed the horrible scene the lunar eclipse in April of AD 33. For them, as for Josephus
of the crucixion of the three malefactors. Roman practice was when writing about Herod, the eclipse was God speaking in

40

Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

a language they
understood.
God
was revealing His
displeasure toward
those who had put
to death Someone
more righteous than
themselves.
This then is the
problem for the
skeptic. The lunar
eclipse,
especially
with the unusual
darkening that only
occurs in those places
on the globe that
observe it at sunset,
did not happen at an
arbitrary time, even
an arbitrary time in
the earthly ministry
of the Son of God. It
happened on the day
Michael Luddeni
that Christianity has
A modern reconstruction of the appearance of the moon rising over the Mount of Olives on the evening
always
maintained of April 3, AD 33, as viewed from Jerusalem at approximately 6:22 p.m. The !rst visibility would have occurred
was
the
most about two minutes earlier. At this time, the upper left section was in the full shadow (umbra) of the earth, while
important day in the the lower portion was in the penumbra (partial shadow). The color of the upper (umbral) portion would have
history of the world been similar to what is shown in the previous picture, which shows the case when the entire moon is in the
since Creation: the umbra. The lower portion would have been a lighter red, fading possibly to yellow/orange. The eclipse lasted until
day on which the approximately 7:11 p.m. local time, after which the moon would have appeared in its usual coloration.
Lamb of God died for
the sins of mankind. The Resurrection, two days later, was Gods Christ was on the Cross, so the Gospel accounts are rejected
sign that Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Messiah whose on this matter, with no evidence to the contrary. Neither can we
suffering and death were for our sake (Is 53:5,6,8,10,11,12), after prove from science that an earthquake occurred on that day, and
so this also is denied, again with no contrary evidence. Recent
which He would rise from the dead (Is 53:10,11; Ps 16:10,11).
Most people today would claim they had never seen a miracle. reports based on varve samples from the Dead Sea state that
If at any time they have read the many Old Testament prophecies there was an earthquake in Judea sometime between AD 26 and
of the Messiah that were fullled in the life of Christ, then they AD 36 (Williams et al. 2012), and a more recent examination of
have observed a miracle without recognizing it, because the varve strata near the Dead Sea concluded that the epicenter of
prediction of these events beforehand, and then their fulllment, the earthquake was near Jerusalem (Austin 2012). The authors
are a miracle. This includes, but is not limited to, the prophecies of the rst study were objective enough to point out that the
in Isaiah just cited. The deniteness and clearness with which Dead Sea varve data are compatible with an earthquake on the
Isaiah 53 describes the person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth day of the Crucixion, while they also offered two alternatives:
is testied to by the fact that this portion of Isaiah is not read 1) that the earthquake was not on that day but the author of
in the synagogues. Besides these prophecies, the other miracle Matthews gospel borrowed the earthquake from its actual day
attesting to the signicance of the Crucixion is the Resurrection of occurrence; or 2) Matthew just invented it altogether as an
two days later. Unbelief has never provided a credible alternative allegorical ction (Williams et al. 2012: 1226). Some reports
explanation of this event, and the halls of atheism have many of this paper went beyond what was actually said and stated that
unoccupied alcoves where those who attempted to discredit the the varve evidence showed that the Crucixion could be set at
bodily resurrection of Christ became convinced that the Gospel April 3, AD 33, whereas the paper only stated that the data are
accounts were true, and so became believers, and, in many cases, consistent with this date, while the actual date of the Crucixion
is determined by other means. Stating that the varve data give the
fervent evangelists for the truth.
To these two classes of miracles that testify to the meaning actual day, month, and year of the Crucixion was a regrettable
of Christs deaththe prophecies beforehand and the misinterpretation of what can be deduced from considering only
Resurrectionthere must be added the testimony of the lunar the geological data without reference to the historical accounts
eclipse. It has been customary for skeptics to deny the natural in the gospels. Worse yet was the approach of some in the secular
phenomena that the Bible associates with the death of Christ. press and in anti-Christian blog sites who said that although the
Modern science cannot prove the darkening of the sun while varve data showed there was an earthquake about this time, it

Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

41

did not happen at the death of Christ, and therefore Matthews

account was a lie. Since the varve data cannot be used to
determine the day on which the earthquake happened, these data
cannot be used to say it was not on the day of the Crucixion
any more than they can be used to say it was on that day. By
twisting what was actually said in a scientic study, skepticism
has once again been diligent in building its case to dismiss the
evidence in the Gospel accounts and conrm unbelief based on
no real evidence.
But stubborn unbelief cannot dismiss the eclipse. The
principles of modern science, which we are told must be
believed above any belief in the supernatural (which is not a
scientic statement, but a religious statement), now prove that
the foreboding eclipse happened just after the death of the
Christian (and Jewish, and universal) Messiah, and there is no
doubt what the eclipse would have meant to the people of that
time.
This was, in a sense, a natural miracle. Its miraculous aspect
lies in its timing: the timing and trajectory of the moons orbit
around the earth so there was an eclipse at this time, and also
the timing of the earths rate of rotation so that, at the longitude
of Jerusalem, the earths atmosphere would cause the moon to
appear with a dark red color when it rose over the horizon. This
third testimony to the importance of Christs death should be
especially meaningful to those who say they will only believe
what can be proven by science.6

The Prophecy of Joel

It gets worse. Worse, that is, for the edice of unbelief, but
better for the household of faith. The physical phenomena
associated with the death of Christ were foretold hundreds of
years before by the prophet Joel. Before looking at the specics,
Joels prophecy, as found in Joel 2:2832, should be examined
in light of other Old Testament scriptures that touch on the same
theme.
The two verses in Joels prophecy that deal with signs in the
physical realm are verses 30 and 31 (in the Hebrew Bible these
are verses 3 and 4 of chapter 3). The preceding two verses that
introduce the prophecy have as their subject the pouring out of
the Spirit of God on all eshmen and women, servants, old
and young. This will be accompanied by the spiritual gifts of
prophecy, visions, and dreams. The coming of the Spirit was
foretold by the Lord in his Last Supper discourse (Jn 16:715).
It is also spoken of in Ez 11:1920 and 36:2627, where God
says that he will replace the stony heart of His people with a
new heart of esh and put His Spirit in them. It is the subject of
Jer 31:3134, where God promises to bring in a new covenant
with His people that will be marked by His speaking directly to
their hearts and minds instead of through prophets and priests.
Christian doctrine has always been that these prophecies in Joel,
Ezekiel, and Jeremiah look forward to the age of the Holy Spirit,
that is, the church age, which began with outpouring of the
Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, seven weeks after Christs
Resurrection. Verses 28 and 29 of Joel chapter 2, I will pour
out my Spirit on all esh... therefore refer to the beginning of
the Church age.

42

These verses are followed by the physical manifestations of

verses 30 and 31, and then the closing verse of Joels prophecy
(2:32), which refers to the salvation procured through the death
of the Messiah and offered to all who will believe and call
on His name. This verse reads, in the NIV translation, And
everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as
the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
This does not refer to the end time at the conclusion of history. It
refers to our present age, an age that began with Christs atoning
death and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
Consequently, the verses that introduce Joels prophecy and
the verse that concludes the prophecy have the same frame of
reference. They do not refer to the Second Coming of the Lord.
With this background, let us look at the intervening two
verses that speak of physical or natural phenomena. Many
commentators have said these marvels refer to the end of the
age rather than the time implied by the preceding and following
verses, namely the beginning of the Gospel dispensation. The
signs are as follows: I will show wonders in the heavens and
on the earth, blood and re and billows of smoke. The sun will
be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord (Joel 2:30-31, NIV).
Verse 32 then presents the offer of salvation and a promise of
deliverance. The deliverance possibly refers to when Christians
escaped death in the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70
because they heeded the words of the Savior in Matthew 24:15
18 and Mark 13:1416 and ed the city.
There is nothing in the verses dealing with the physical
phenomena related to the outpouring of the Spirit that must be
put off until the end of the age. The sun had turned to darkness
on the day of the Crucixion (Mt 27:45, Mk 15:33, Lk 23:44).
Thanks to the advances of modern astronomy and the research
of Humphreys and Waddington, we now know that the moon did
indeed turn to blood in a way that the Jewish people would
have understood, and this happened on the evening of the day
when their Messiah was crucied. The only question remaining
might be about the blood and re and billows of smoke. It is
not clear what these words describe, but casting the prophecy to
the Second Coming does nothing to clarify their meaning. We
cannot be dogmatic, but a reasonable interpretation is that they
refer to the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Romans, at which
time many were slain (blood) and the temple and much of the
city were burned (re and pillars of smoke).
It is doubtful that anyone understood the import of Joels
prophecy in the time between the darkening of the sun and
moon on Friday, April 3 and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost, seven weeks later. During this time, there were
unsettling rumors that Jesus, whom many regarded as a prophet,
was alive and had appeared to His disciples. What was puzzling
about these rumors was that they would be easily extinguished if
the authorities could produce Jesus body; this they could not do.
Instead, the ofcial story was that Jesus disciples had stolen the
body. Surely no thinking person could believe that; this would
have been a capital offense if it were true, and no one was even
trying to arrest the disciples.
The confusion, for many, came to an end on the Day of
Pentecost. As the second of the three feasts which all Jewish

Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

men were required to attend, Jerusalem was again crowded with

Jews and proselytes from the various nations of the empire.
And once again there was a physical phenomenon, this time the
sound of a strong wind that was centered on the place where
the disciples of Jesus were gathered. This was accompanied by
the people hearing various languages in which Gods word was
proclaimed. The purpose of the wind and the languages was to
assemble the people so that they could hear Gods explanation of
the events that had troubled them, as spoken by His chosen agent
for this task, the apostle Peter. When the crowd had gathered,
they witnessed the outward signs of the coming in power of
Gods Spirit, providing a visual and audible afrmation that
the prophecies of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Joel regarding a new
dispensation when the Holy Spirit would indwell all His people
were now realized. For the disciples, the manifestations were not
only outward, but inward; the Holy Spirit had come to indwell
them and provide an internal witness to Gods reality. Paul
later referred to this precious truth in Romans 8:16: The Spirit
Himself testies with our spirit that we are Gods children.
Empowered by that Spirit, Peter preached to the assembled
thousands, boldly proclaiming that the One they had crucied
had indeed risen from the dead and God had made Him both
Lord and Messiah. The text he started from was the prophecy
of Joel.
As found in Acts 2:1621, Peter quoted all three parts of Joels
prophecy: the introductory verses about the day when Gods
Spirit would be poured out on all !esh; the two intermediate
verses about the physical manifestations on earth and in the
skies; and the conclusion that everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved. For Peter, Joels prophecy was being
fullled, and had been fullled, before the eyes of his audience.
He did not say, This is similar to what Joel spoke of, but This
is what (touto estin to) was spoken by the prophet Joel. Or, in
the memorable rst words of the KJV, This is that. The people
were witnessing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit referred to in
the rst part of the prophecy, just as, seven weeks previously,
they had witnessed the sun turning to darkness and the moon to
blood spoken of in the middle verses. For Peter and his listeners,
Joels prophecy was for the immediate present, not some distant
future time. And for at least three thousand individuals that day
his sermon made sense out of the whole ministry of Jesus of
Nazareth and the many things they had been puzzling over since
His death and reported resurrection. They now understood, and
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about
three thousand were added to their number that day (Acts 2:41,
NIV).
The skeptic can always nd some reason to cast doubt on
most of these events, even when there is no contrary evidence,
and he or she will nd an audience among the similar-minded.
But it is no longer intellectually defensible to ignore the eclipsed
moon that became visible three and one-half hours after the death
of the Messiah, and what its blood-red appearance would have
meant to those who witnessed the Crucixion. May God grant
that re!ection on the timing and science of this event will lead
those who value scientic objectivity, and are willing to follow
the truth wherever it leads, to a full understanding of this and all
other events related to Christs ministry, death, and resurrection.

Bible and Spade 26.2 (2013)

Notes
1

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas-1/SEatlas-0779.GIF.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCLE/5MCLE-Figs-05.pdf.
3
The present author has a full review of Dr. Steinmanns book on the ABR
website, www.BibleArchaeology.org.
4
This citation and the following discussion of the scientic ndings related to
the lunar eclipse of April 3, AD 33 are taken from Humphreys 2011, chapter 6.
5
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEhistory/LEplot/LE0033Apr03P.pdf.
6
To accept as true only what can be proven scientically rules out the basic tenet
of this philosophy, which cannot be demonstrated scientically. This foolishness
was the premise of the old and thoroughly discredited logical positivism.
2

Bibliography
Austin, Steven A.
2012 Jerusalem Earthquake of 33 A.D.: Evidence within Laminated Mud
of the Dead Sea, Israel. Paper No. 23511, annual meeting of the
Geological Society of America, Charlotte NC. Online at https://gsa.
confex.com/gsa/2012AM/webprogram/Paper204688.html.
Filmer, W.E.
1966 The Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great. Journal of
Theological Studies 17: 28398.
Finegan, Jack
1998 Handbook of Biblical Chronology, revised edition. Peabody MA:
Hendrickson.
Humphreys, Colin J.
2011 The Mystery of the Last Supper: Reconstructing the Final Days of
Jesus. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
Humphreys, Colin J. and Waddington, W. Graem
1983 Dating the Crucixion. Nature 306: 74346.
McFall, Leslie
1991 A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and
Chronicles. Bibliotheca Sacra 148: 345.
NASA
2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTIeUYKll2o (video explaining
eclipses).
Riess, F.
1880 Das Geburtsjahr Christi. Freiburg, Germany: Herder. Cited in Filmer
1966: 28384.
Steinmann, Andrew E.
2009 When Did Herod the Great Reign? Novum Testamentum 51: 129.
2011 From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology. St. Louis MO:
Concordia.
Thiele, Edwin R.
1983 The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, third ed. Grand
Rapids MI: Zondervan/Kregel.
Williams, Jefferson B.; Schwab, Marcus J.; and Brauer, A.
2012 An Early First-century Earthquake in the Dead Sea. International
Geology Review 54, 121928.
Wiseman, Donald J.
1979 Jonahs Nineveh. Tyndale Bulletin 30: 2952.
Young, Rodger C.
2005 Tables of Reign Lengths from the Hebrew Court Recorders. Journal
of the Evangelical Theological Society 48: 22548.

Rodger C. Young has a BA degree in physics from

Reed College, Portland OR, and BA and MA degrees
in mathematics from Oxford
Unversity, where he was a
Rhodes Scholar. He has also
done graduate work in theology
and biblical languages at
Nazarene Theological Seminary.
Following his retirement from
IBM in 2003 he has devoted
himself to the study of biblical
chronology and related subjects.

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