The Torn Temple Curtain. Evidence for the crucifixion of Christ

The Torn Temple Curtain
Evidence for the crucifixion of Christ:

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The Torn Curtain in the Temple:
According to the Gospels:

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.”

Mark 15:38
“And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”

Luke 23:45
“And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”

Jewish people said God sent warnings about their Temple that went unheeded. Josephus wrote a fascinating passage about this, describing the divine portents that were witnessed at the Temple and in Jerusalem before the end (The Jewish Wars 6:5:3).

Here is a summary of Josephus’ Portents List of events before the temple veil split:

A new star and comet visible for a year
Light shining around the Temple altar
Heifer giving birth to lamb in Temple
Massive eastern Temple door opens by itself
Shining soldiers are seen in the sky, moving through the clouds
Priests hear voices in the Temple, “Let us go away from here.”
The son of Ananus incessantly proclaims the city’s approaching devastation.

When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom. This event symbolised the end of the separation between God and humanity, signifying that access to God was now open to all through Jesus’ sacrifice. 24 thousand priests served by course in the temple complex. Inside priests had duties to keep the fires burning. Burning incense was done all the time.

The incense altar had smoke rising upwards all the time as a picture of the constant prayer being offered to God. Trimming the lamps, oil, and incense, firing the altar, removal of ashes, worked like clockwork. Thousands witnessed the veil being torn from top to bottom. The veil was sixty feet high. The curtain had embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the [twelve] signs, representing living creatures.

Josephus reported that the veil was 4 inches thick, was renewed every year, and that horses tied to each side could not pull it apart. It barred all but the High Priest from the presence of God, but when it was torn in two at the death of Jesus of Nazareth access to God was made available to all who come through him.

The Veils before the Most Holy Place were 40 cubits (60 feet) long, and 20 (30 feet) wide, of the thickness of the palm, and wrought in 72 squares, which were joined together; and these Veils were so heavy, that, in the exaggerated language of the time, it needed 300 priests to manipulate each.

If the Veil was at all such as is described in the Talmud, it could not have been rent in twain by a mere earthquake or the fall of the lintel, although its composition in squares fastened together might explain, how the rent might be as described in the Gospel. Three hundred priests were told off [sic; the idea is that they were designated] to draw the veil (of the Temple) aside; for it is taught that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel declared in the name of Rabbi Shimon the Sagan (or high priest’s substitute), that the thickness of the veil was a handbreadth.

It was woven of seventy-two cords, and each cord consisted of twenty-four strands. It was forty cubits long and twenty wide. Eighty-two myriads of damsels worked at it, and two such veils were made every year. When it became soiled, it took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it. Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says in the name of R. Simeon son of the Prefect: The veil was one handbreadth thick and was woven on [a loom having] seventy-two rods, and over each rod were twenty-four threads.

Its length was forty cubits and its breadth twenty cubits; it was made by eighty-two young girls, and they used to make two in every year; and three hundred priests immersed it. (p. 161, bracketed material is part of the original quote. There was a golden vine at the entrance of the Temple, trailing on crystals, on which people, who donated fruit or grape clusters would suspend on it. It happened once that three hundred priests were summoned to clear the vine of such offerings. The thickness of the veil [of the Temple] was a hand-breadth.

It was woven of seventy-two cords, each cord consisting of twenty-four strands. Its length was forty cubits, by twenty in width. It was made by eighty-two myriads of damsels, and two such veils were made every year. It took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it.

The most obvious sign of grief in the times of Israel was tearing one’s clothes and putting on sackcloth. This was done from top to bottom to signify anger, grief and shock. God the Father ripped the veil from top to bottom displaying all of these traits above for the death of His Son Jesus Christ. It was also an opening that all can come into the presence of God.

When Jesus was crucified there were still sacrifices going on in the temple afterwards.
Jesus was the substitute for humanity that became our sin on the cross.

Sources
There are descriptions of the Temple veil in Josephus http://www.josephus.org/FlJosephus3/MailAndFAQNew.htm

The War of the Jews
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/josephus/works/files/war-5.htm

Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZyUgcAhqErgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=edersheim+life+and+times+of+jesus&cd=2&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=&f=false

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VJUHAAAAQAAJ&dq=edersheim+life+and+times&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=RFC7S_yqI4TcM4eauM0H&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=of%20the%20thickness%20of%20the%20palm%20of%20the%20hand&f=false

Chullin (Harris, pp. 195-96)

The three apostles Matthew, Mark and Luke are competent witnesses as their published writing demonstrates, intelligent men capable of presenting data in exceptional clarity and reporting matters in highly structured form. This is the threefold evidence and testimony.

Mishnah Shekalim 8:3 Jewish Law
The curtain is described in Mishnah Shekalim 8:3. (The Mishnah is the oral tradition of Jewish Law, first put in writing about the end of the Second Century AD. It is the foundation of the Talmud.) Some interpret this to mean the curtain had 72 squares joined together. Perhaps the tear happened at the central seam.

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