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This article examines a report in the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament that an earthquake was felt in Jerusalem on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. We have tabulated a varved chronology from a core from Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea between deformed sediments due to a widespread earthquake in 31 BC and deformed sediments due to an early first-century earthquake. The early first-century seismic event has been tentatively assigned a date of 31 AD with an accuracy of ±5 years. Plausible candidates include the earthquake reported in the Gospel of Matthew, an earthquake that occurred sometime before or after the crucifixion and was in effect ‘borrowed’ by the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and a local earthquake between 26 and 36 AD that was sufficiently energetic to deform the sediments at Ein Gedi but not energetic enough to produce a still extant and extra-biblical historical record. If the last possibility is true, this would mean that the report of an earthquake in the Gospel of Matthew is a type of allegory.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the generous support of GeoForschungZentrum in Potsdam, Germany, where all of the thin-section production and most of the microscope work was performed. Jörg Negendank assisted with discussions and in supplying reference material. We also thank the following researchers in Germany for their assistance and discussions: Sushma Prasad, Jens Mingram, and Claudia Migowski. In addition, assistance in the form of help and/or discussions was received in Israel from Revital Bookman, Amotz Agnon, Avi Shapira, and Sam Frydman. Revital Bookman contributed with article reviews. Finally, Steve Tsai of Cal State University at Long Beach helped with useful insight in the early stages of the primary author's research, which concentrated on the Geomechanics of the Dead Sea seismites.
Notes
1. 31°25.176′N 35°23.136″E.
2. Actium was the site of a naval battle in Greece between the forces of Mark Anthony and Caesar Octavianus, who was later known as Augustus Caesar. King Herod of Israel allied himself with Anthony and fought a series of land battles with the Arabians at the same time. Herod's army is believed to have camped in the plains of Jericho at the time of the earthquake (de Vaux 1973).
3. M L = local magnitude.
4. Josephus refers to a drought in the 13th year of Herod's reign. In one reckoning, Herod's reign starts in 40 BC, when he was appointed King by Rome (Finegan 1998, Section 227). In another reckoning, Herod's reign begins in 37 BC (or possibly 36 BC), when he conquered Jerusalem (Finegan 1998, Section 503). Thus, by the first reckoning, 28 BC corresponds to the 13th year of Herod's reign and in the second reckoning, 25 BC (or possibly 24 BC) corresponds to the 13th year of Herod's reign. Finegan (1998, Section 227) notes that Josephus could be inconsistent in the way he reckoned time in his books.
5. At 2.5× magnification, the aragonite crystals are not visible, but some of the larger white rhomboid-shaped gypsum crystals are visible. Gypsum rhombs have a flattened diamond shape.
6. Earthquake is translated from the word seismos (σεισμός) in the original Greek text. Seismos unambiguously refers to an earthquake.
7. The curtain-tearing incident described in Matthew, Mark, and Luke can also be interpreted allegorically.
8. This is described in Chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.
9. Besides earthquakes 1–4, there are no other historically reported earthquakes in the vicinity of Judea between 11 and 51 AD.
10. The description in the catalogue reads as follows: ‘Structures at the Nabatian Temple at Aram (Gebel-E-Ram, 40 km. East of Akaba, built ca 31–16 AD), fortified to withstand earthquakes. Same at Tel-El Haleife, near Eilat, and at Petra.’
11. This part of the Acts takes place in Samaria and depicts a conversation between the apostles Peter and John and a man named Simon. Acts 8:24 reads ' ‘and having answered, Simon said, you pray for me to the lord that nothing may come upon me of which you have spoken’. There is no mention of an earthquake.