Is there any evidence to support Matthew's gospel account of the curtain in the Jerusalem Temple being torn in two?

score:5

Accepted answer

It is desirable in any important matter to have strong testimony to a fact.

As a Protestant, my primary source is always the scripture and it is scripture itself which advises that one should have strong testimony in all important matters viz :

At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. [Deuteronomy 19:15 KJV.]

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. [II Corinthians 13:1 KJV.]

In the case of the veil of the temple being ripped from the top to the bottom there are three witnesses to the fact. They are competent witnesses as their published writing demonstrates : intelligent men capable of presenting data in exceptional clarity and reporting matters in highly structured form.

  1. Matthew 27:51

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

  1. Mark 15:38

And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

  1. Luke 23:46

And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

These are the facts of the case.

This is the three fold evidence and testimony.

And these are the very men who have 'turned the world upside down', Acts 17:6, whose words reverberate around the world to this very day.

One would not expect the Romans to document this fact since they were not permitted access to the inner precincts of the temple. Only priests could enter that part of the temple.

And one would not anticipate reliable testimony from the Jews (of the period) when one looks at the behaviour of the hierarchy - lying in order to murder Jesus of Nazareth, bribery in recruiting Judas to betray Jesus of Nazareth and coercion in forcing Pilate's hand to execute Jesus of Nazareth by Roman authority.

One would expect such people to hush this matter up and to secretly repair the damage and to carry on as if nothing had happened.

But the three faithful witnesses did testify honestly, and risked their lives to do so. Soon after the event, eleven men - Matthew among them - shut themselves indoors, for fear of the Jews, John 20:19. Mark was close to Peter, who was, himself, crucified. And both Mark and Luke were closely associated with Paul, who was executed by Nero.

Upvote:1

The answer to your straight-forward question is, there is no known evidence, other than what is recorded in the three gospel accounts (Matt 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45) that the curtain of the Temple was torn in two at the death of Christ.

Upvote:6

James Ussher, in his Annals of the World (first published in 1658), writes:

“Phlegon stated that in the 19th year of Tiberius (as Eustathius Antiochus noted in Hexaemeron) and the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (that is 33 AD), the following events took place... 'There was a large and most famous eclipse that had ever occurred. The day was so turned into night at the sixth hour (noon), that the stars were seen. Also, an earthquake in Bithynia destroyed many houses in the city of Nicaea’.” (Annals of the World, paragraphs 6502 & 6503).

Here is the link to the entire works of Ussher’s Annals of the World – go to paragraph 6479 for the events surrounding the crucifixion. http://gospelpedlar.com/articles/Bible/Usher.pdf

In addition, Pliny the Elder, a first century Roman historian and naturalist, wrote that

“[t]he largest earthquake happened in the principate of Tiberius Caesar when twelve cities in Asia Minor were razed to the ground in one night” (Pliny's Natural History 38).

That does not constitute proof about the tapestry-like curtain being rent from top to bottom (a 60 foot drop) but it is evidence outwith the New Testament of some events associated with the day Jesus died. An unnatural darkness descended at noon. As it lasted three hours, it could not have been an eclipse, but it does verify a strange and powerful darkness mid-day. And the gospels also speak of tombs being opened up and some in them being seen walking in the city - an earthquake would fit in with tombs being opened and contents thrown out though not with the Christian point about dead ones walking in the city. Only the New Testament sees this as "many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people." (Matthew 27:51-53) Matthew certainly did not crib that from Mark.

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