Did an Earthquake hit Jerusalem when Jesus Died?

The Bible, ancient historians and the Geological Society of America all indicate that an earthquake hit Jerusalem when Jesus died.

According to the Gospel of Matthew an earthquake hit Jerusalem when Jesus died and produced damage in the temple area:

Matthew 27:50 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook. And the rocks were split.”

The earthquake at Jesus’ Crucifixion is potentially confirmed in the Jewish Talmud. According to the Talmud[Shabbat 15a], the Sanhedrin was exiled or banished from the subterranean chamber in the temple complex 40 years before the temple was destroyed. The passage in the Talmud also indicates this coincided with the Sanhedrin no longer adjudicating capital cases. The gospels indicate that the Jewish leadership was involved with the capital case against Jesus that occurred approximately 40 years before the temple destruction was completed. So according to the Talmud, Jesus’ trial may have been the last or one of the last capital cases involving the Sanhedrin. The subterranean structure where the Sanhedrin met was abandoned afterwards possibly due to earthquake damage that sealed it off from access or made it unsafe.

The Jewish Talmud[Yoma 39B] provides a second clue pointing toward earthquake damage in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death. The temple doors began opening by themselves 40 years prior to the destruction of the temple. This indicates that something happened to the architectural supports for the temple doors at the time of Jesus’ death. An earthquake could’ve damaged the angularity of the door supports so that they began opening on their own.

There are non-Jewish sources that also indicate an earthquake hit the region near Jerusalem at approximately the time of Jesus’ death:

“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 the largest 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” (James Ussher, Annals of the World 6503).

“[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).

The Geological Society of America Jerusalem earthquake of 33 A.D.: Evidence within laminated mud of the dead sea, Israel (Austin, Steven A.) - Two thousand years ago the Dead Sea Basin was shaken by two earthquakes that left two widespread seismites within laminated Dead Sea sediment. The first earthquake (spring 31 B.C., Jericho fault, M~7.2) transformed adjacent Dead Sea laminated mud and aragonite into a persistent and distinctive intraclast breccia seismite in places greater than 1 m thick. The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus described the 31 B.C. earthquake as a significant social and economic event during King Herod's reign. A second seismite occurs within laminated mud and aragonite at 10 to 85 cm above the 31 B.C. seismite. Varve counting above the 31 B.C. datum indicates the second seismite can be assigned to 31 A.D. (+/- 5 years), but history specifies as 33 A.D. Superb mud laminae exposures are provided in two gullies at the southwest corner of the Dead Sea at Wadi Ze'elim fan delta where the 33 A.D. seismite outcrops 55 to 85 cm above the 31 B.C. intraclast breccia. The 33 A.D. seismite at Ze'elim is intraformationally folded, 8-cm-thick, sometimes brecciated, silicate mud and aragonite/gypsum laminae. Seismite facies progress from "linear waves" to "asymmetric billows" to "breccia" expressing transition to Kelvin-Helmholtz turbulence within the uppermost shearing laminae during shaking. Recumbent folds and imbricate faults are consistent with gravity collapse upon a broad arch structure during shaking. Folded seismite transitions northward within fan deltas to thicker intraclast breccia, suggesting an epicenter nearer Jerusalem. Matthew, the 1st-century synoptic Gospel author, reported two earthquakes in Jerusalem in 33 A.D. These are the Jerusalem earthquakes of April 3 at the crucifixion of Christ (Matt. 27:51), and April 5 at the resurrection of Christ (Matt. 28:2). Luke, a first century physician and historian, reported a smaller earthquake in the summer at the gathered assembly (Acts 4:31). The persistent 33 A.D. seismite indicates the biggest 33 A.D. earthquake was M~6.0. This biggest earthquake was likely April 3, 33 A.D. that startled city residents and caused moderate damage, especially to the western side of Temple Mount. Pivots of two, 20-m-high, metal doors of the Temple appear to have been damaged, and the 20-m-high curtain in front of the doors was torn, likely by displacement of the lintel of the Temple during the earthquake.

If an earthquake damaged the temple in Jerusalem at the time that Jesus died, the population of that city would’ve viewed this as a portent with supernatural overtones. This would explain why the Sanhedrin stopped adjudicating capital cases after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Dr. J. Clontz, Aidan University – Editor of The Comprehensive New Testament

Shabbat 15a – “Forty years before the Temple was destroyed, the Sanhedrin was exiled from the Chamber of Hewn Stones and sat in the stores on the Temple Mount. With regard to the last statement, the Gemara asks: What are the halakhic ramifications of this statement? Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Avdimi said: To say that they no longer judged cases of fines. The Gemara wonders: Does it enter your mind that they no longer judged cases of fines? Even several generations after the Temple was destroyed they continued to judge cases of fines in Eretz Yisrael. Rather, emend and say: That they no longer judged capital cases. The authority to impose the death penalty was stripped from the Sanhedrin, and therefore they willingly left the Chamber of Hewn Stone. Since the Sanhedrin no longer convenes in its designated place, the halakha is that it no longer has the authority to judge capital cases (Tosafot).”

Yoma 39B – “The Sages taught: During the tenure of Shimon HaTzaddik, the lot for God always arose in the High Priest’s right hand; after his death, it occurred only occasionally; but during the forty years prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, the lot for God did not arise in the High Priest’s right hand at all. So too, the strip of crimson wool that was tied to the head of the goat that was sent to Azazel did not turn white, and the westernmost lamp of the candelabrum did not burn continually. And the doors of the Sanctuary opened by themselves as a sign that they would soon be opened by enemies, until Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai scolded them. He said to the Sanctuary: Sanctuary, Sanctuary, why do you frighten yourself with these signs? I know about you that you will ultimately be destroyed, and Zechariah, son of Ido, has already prophesied concerning you: “Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars” (Zechariah 11:1), Lebanon being an appellation for the Temple.”