Matthew 27:51

‘And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.'

His death was followed by amazing activity, although whether it all followed immediately we do not know. The first activity was in the Temple where the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. There is a difference of opinion as to which veil is meant, the veil which separated the Holy Place in the Temple from the Holy of Holies, and prevented access to that Most Holy Place for any apart from the High Priest once a year, or the veil that guarded the way into the Holy Place where the priests operated. Both were only symbolic for they had been replaced by doors, but the veils were hung over the doors so as to preserve the old features of the Tabernacle. The tearing of the veil was almost certainly intended by the evangelists to indicate that the way into the presence of God was being laid open (compare Hebrews 10:19). Alternately it might have been intended to signify that God had deserted the Holy of Holies (compare Ezekiel 11:22), or have indicated a similar thing to His ‘rending of His garment', or have been the earnest (sample and guarantee) of the Temple's later destruction, an indication that its relevance had now ceased because God was no longer there.

In favour of the outer veil being torn is the fact that it would then be a sight visible to all, and if a sirocco was the cause of the sudden darkness, that could also have caused the splitting of the veil. Or it could equally have been caused by the earthquake. In favour of the inner veil is its deeper symbolism, and its greater importance in Judaism, and while it would then not be seen by all, such a happening would certainly not be able to remain hidden. Too many priests would become aware of it, to say nothing of those who had to replace the veil.

The Jewish Talmud (the Gemara - Rabbinic comments on the Mishnah which latter was the written record of the oral Law) states that forty years before the destruction of temple, thus around this time, something happened which made the massive doors of the temple open of their own accord (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 39b), and such an event could certainly have caused the veil to split.

Furthermore, that strange things happened in the temple some time prior to its destruction at the fall of Jerusalem is recorded also by Josephus (Jewish Wars 6:5.2 - although not referring to this particular event). Among other things Josephus describes how the eastern gate of the inner court, which was of brass and very heavy, which took twenty men to shut and rested on a base strengthened with iron, and had bolts fastened very deeply into the firm floor which was made of one solid stone, opened of its own accord. It would thus seem that the temple mount was subject to earth movements which caused strange things to happen from time to time. It may well therefore also have happened forty years before, especially as there was also an accompanying earthquake.

‘And the earth quaked, and the rocks were torn asunder,'

Not only was the veil torn in two but ‘the earth quaked and the rocks were torn asunder'. The heavenly veil was torn in half, the earthly rocks were ‘rent asunder'. Creation itself was bearing witness to what had happened to God's Son. This might indicate that the rendings were intended to indicate strong reaction on the part of God, similar to the rending of garments, or that God was acting to reveal His anger at what had been man's response to His Son. This would tie in with 2 Samuel 22:7 (also Psalms 18:6), ‘in my distress I called on YHWH, I called to my God. From His Temple He heard my voice, and my cry came to His ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked, the foundations of the Heaven trembled and quaked because He was angry.' When we consider that behind these words is also the idea of a kind of resurrection, ‘the cords of Sheol were round about me, the snares of death came on me -- He sent from on high and took me, He raised me from many waters -- He brought me forth also into a large place, He delivered me because He delighted in me' (2Sa 22:6; 2 Samuel 22:17; 2 Samuel 22:20), and that the Psalm ends with, ‘great deliverance gives He to His king, and shows loving kindness to His Anointed One (Messiah), to David and to his seed for evermore' (Matthew 27:51), the application is clear. The fact that the Psalm is repeated twice in Scripture confirms its importance.

It is thus tempting from this Psalm to combine the three incidents. YHWH hears the voice of His Son, tears aside the curtain in the Holy of Holies, (or at the door of His Sanctuary), comes out in His anger and causes the earth to reel and the rocks to be rent asunder (compare Nahum 1:6), and then from the opened tombs brings forth resurrected saints as witnesses to His Son and as the firstfruits of what He has accomplished. As in the days of Ezekiel the Temple is no longer to be seen as His Dwellingplace, nor Jerusalem as a fit place for the bodies of His ‘holy ones'. (Many Jews made great efforts to be buried near Jerusalem).

However, previously the High Priest had torn His garment at what he considered to be the blasphemy of Jesus, so we might see here that God has rent in half the veil in the Temple and torn asunder the rocks on the ground in order to indicate how He felt about the blasphemy committed on His Son. On top of this, the rending of the rocks is probably also to be seen as preparatory to what follows in the opening of the tombs.