16. What Caused the Three Days of Darkness after the Crucifixion?

16. What Caused the Three Days of Darkness after the Crucifixion?

Copyright © 2015 by Jerry L. Ainsworth

A few years ago, I wrote an article about the events in Book of Mormon lands that attended the crucifixion and death of the Savior. I have since received emails from a number of people who expressed their opinion that the three days of darkness was the result of volcanic eruptions. It was their view that the volcanic ash caused the darkness, which made it impossible to light any kind of fire.

It has been my contention that volcanic ash would probably not prevent the burning of a fire, although it could certainly create darkness. I have, therefore, always assumed that the conditions that disallowed the burning of fire were caused by some form of moisture, such as a thick vapor and not volcanic ash alone. Here are the descriptive verses:

And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness;

And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all;

And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. (3 Nephi 8:20–22; emphasis added)

Gas, Oil, and Water Vapors

While I was recently preparing comments for a presentation to a Latter-day Saints institute class, a couple of Book of Mormon scriptures “leaped off the pages” at me.

There are very large deposits of oil, gas, and water underneath the lands I consider to be Zarahemla (in the vicinity of Yaxchilan on the Usumacinta River). I believe that during the crucifixion, there were large and deep fissures in the land, allowing for the dramatic escape of these gas, oil, and water vapors from beneath the ground.

Then, at the end of these three days, these fissures cleaved back together, the vapors subsided, and light returned to the land. The scriptures that appear to support these views are as follows:

And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had fallen could feel the vapor of darkness. (3 Nephi 8:20; emphasis added)

And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. (3 Nephi 8:22; emphasis added)

It appears from these verses that the darkness might have been caused by conditions of moisture (mists)—not ash from volcanic eruptions. The fact that the scripture says “mists,” in the plural, may indicate there were mists from a variety of substances, not just one.

Prophecies of Destruction

Now I’ll switch from the events occurring during the crucifixion of the Savior to the prophecies of these events. At that point, the following conditions are described:

For thus spake the prophet [apparently Zenos]: 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. (1 Nephi 19:11; emphasis added)

My reading of this scripture seems to indicate the vapor of darkness was associated with the “opening of the earth,” which is my thesis from the first. There were great fissures in the earth, and thick vapors of gas, oil, and water erupted from those fissures. In some cases, the lightning, which “came down from heaven,” may have set some of those gases and vapors on fire.

What brought an end to the darkness?

Going back to events of the crucifixion, we are told the following:

And the earth did cleave back together again, that it stood; and the mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of the people who were spared alive did cease. (3 Nephi 10:10; emphasis added)

I believe that the earth was torn apart during the crucifixion when vapors and mists (made of gas, oil, and water) escaped from beneath the earth, and I believe that those vapors and mists caused darkness for three days, a darkness in which no fire of any kind could be lighted.

At the conclusion of those three days, the earth cleaved back together, the vapors and mists dissipated from the land, and light returned to the cities of the Nephites. 

Contact me with a question or comment: eljefejla@aol.com