Destruction and Darkness

One of the questions that came up in Sunday School today was how widespread the darkness and destruction was across the earth when the Savior died.  Among the Nephites we know that there were “thunderings, and the lightnings, and the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth” which did “last for about the space of three hours” (3 Nephi 8:19).  If Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecy was fulfilled then, putting it in past tense, there were “great tempests, and there [were] many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there [were] many places which [were] called valleys which [became] mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23).  After that “there was a thick darkness upon all the face of the land” and “it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen” (3 Nephi 8:23).  So there was destruction with earthquakes and storms for three hours, and then darkness for three days. 

                It appears that something similar happened in other parts of the world, though we don’t really have many details.  Here is the prophecy that we have from Nephi’s summary of what he read on the brass plates: Zenos “spake concerning the three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who are of the house of Israel.”  So those on the “isles of the sea” and especially those of the house of Israel had the three days of darkness.  From Nephi’s words in 2 Nephi 29:13 we can be certain that the “house of Israel” refers to more than just the Nephites and the Jews at Jerusalem, so there must have been other parts of the world that similarly had the three days of darkness at the death of the Savior.  It wasn’t just darkness, though, that was seen by other unknown groups: “The Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel at that day, some with his voice, because of their righteousness, unto their great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings and the lightnings of his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be carried up.”  The destruction would be so bad that “many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers” (1 Nephi 19:10-12).  So while we have very little detail about what happened and no information about where this took place besides in the Americas, clearly the destruction and darkness was widespread. 

                What happened in Jerusalem, though, was different.  Instead of three hours of storm and three days of darkness, they got an earthquake and three hours of darkness.  From Matthew’s account we read, “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….  Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:51, 54).  The earthquake must have been fairly substantial for the Roman soldier to make that exclamation.  From Luke’s account we learn this: “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst” (Luke 23:44-45).  So they had a similar darkness to what happened in the Americas, but it was shorter.  I’m not sure why Jerusalem was spared the destructions that happened elsewhere, but it might have to do with the fact that they had already “rejected signs and wonders” while the Savior was alive—they weren’t worthy of any more signs about the Savior (1 Nephi 19:13).  And they certainly weren’t spared the destructions; they were simply postponed.