ECLIPSE
4/8/2024
All of the United States will experience at least a partial
eclipse Monday 4/8.
There was a 2017 eclipse (8/21) that passed from Oregon to South Carolina in
which 215 million Americans viewed it directly or digitally; The 2024 eclipse (7 years later) will go from
Texas through Maine. If you combine them
together, the two eclipses form an X or a cross intersecting south of St.
Louis. South Carolina will experience a
partial eclipse 81% to 69% beginning
around 1:50PM peaking at 3:08 and ending at 4:25 PM. Please wear special eclipse glasses to
protect your retina. I did not at a total
eclipse when I was 13 and it damaged my retina which tore in 1993.
Historical significances of eclipses:
1) On May 28, 585 BC there was a huge battle at the end of a six year war
between the empires of Media (later Medes and Persians/Iran) and the Lydia in
what is now Turkey. Herodotus recounts that “just as the battle was growing
warm, day was on a sudden changed into night…when they observed the change, the
Medes and Lydians ceased fighting, and were alike anxious to have terms of
peace agreed on…This event was foretold by Thales.”
2) Herodotus also accounts how the Persian king, Xerxes saw an eclipse before invading Greece. He was told by his Zoroastrian priests that
it was a warning of the Greek’s destruction.
However, we know the Persians were defeated, not the Greeks and Xerxes
was assassinated in 465BC.
3) When Jesus died on the cross 3:00 PM 4/3/33 there was an earthquake (Mt.
27:51) and a darkening of the sun (Mt. 27:45; Mk. 15:33; Lk. 23:44) from
12-3:00 (sixth to the ninth hour). Some
say this darkening was by a solar, lunar, or simply dark clouds from a storm.
4) Christopher Columbus on his third voyage to North America, was shipwrecked
on Jamaica in 1503. He and his crew was
facing starvation. Columbus forecast a
lunar eclipse on March 1 as a sign from God that they should not withhold food
from his crew.
5) Tecumseh’s brother prophesied a solar eclipse 4/16/1806 and it united the
Shawnee and other Indians in a confederacy against William Henry Harrison and
the Americans.
6) In 1919 an eclipse proved Einstein’s theory of relativity’s prediction that
the sun’s gravity bent starlight forever changing how we look at time, space
and motion.
Religious significance of eclipse:
“The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night
after night they reveal knowledge. They
have no speech, they use no words, no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the
earth.” (Psalm 19). An eclipse is another amazing sight in the
heavens that could help us to think about the God who made it all.
Jesus quoted Isaiah 13:10; 34:4 about the distress of the days around his
second coming:
“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the sarts will
fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Joel 2:10 speaks of the great Day of the Lord
that “the earth quakes, the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their
brightness.” (Ezek 32:7).
In other religions eclipses had different religious meanings. According to a BBC article (Richard Fisher
10/12/23) in western Asia it was a dragon devouring the sun; In Peru a puma;
The Vikings spoke of sky wolves. In
Choctaw Native American culture black squirrels devoured or clouded the sun,
and we were supposed to remain quiet.
In a total eclipse, the birds hush their singing, some animals curl up as if
going to sleep, and there is a quiet upon the earth.
From a Christian point of view, signs in the heavens are
opportunities to re-think our faith. It
is a definite reminder that the universe is bigger than we are, and that we are
not in control of it. Nor should we
expect that the universe is always constant and beyond change or the control of
a Creator. Even if an eclipse is
predictable mathematically, that doesn’t mean it is not a huge event that
effects life or is a possible wake up call.
When I see a sunrise over the ocean or a sunset behind the mountains
such things are predictable but that does not take away the ability for them to
inspire and even change me for the better.
Because Jesus (and Isaiah and Joel) predicted the darkening of the sun
and moon before the day of the Lord (or the day of the second coming), seeing
an eclipse can make us think of seeing our God face to face one day. Perhaps (as the Lydians and Medes) it could
inspire us to seek peace and pursue it.
Perhaps those who are dividing from others would seek instead to love
and overcome their differences. Perhaps
our egos and pride will be seen for what they are in the shadows of an
eclipse. Maybe we could stand and see
the Bailey’s Beads (sunlight around the edge of the moon) or the shadow bands
(seen on the ground before or after an eclipse) , the 360 degrees of orange and
feel the temperature drop and stand in awe of the God of the universe.
I remember the 2017 eclipse. We had a
worship service at the church. There
were no earthquakes, nuclear war, no apocalypse and the Lord didn’t come back. But HE was present and we stood in awe and
wonder at the God who made the sun, the moon, the earth, the stars, and “set
their courses in the heavens.” “But he,
full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.” (Acts 2:33).
Prayer:
Lord, you are the Creator of the sun, the moon, the stars, and all that I can
see, including me. Thank you for the
gift of life, and the things that happen in life that make it interesting and
point to you. I stand before you in humility at your greatness and power. I kneel before you in silence, humility, and
repentance. How majestic is your name,
Lord our Lord! You have set your glory
in the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and stars, which you have set in place.
What are human beings that you are mindful of them? Yet you came down to our level in Jesus. You showed your sympathy and love through Him
making a way for us to come to you.
Suggested Hymns: For
the Beauty of the Earth; God is Working
His Purpose Out, O God who Spins the Whirring Planets; “Let all things Now Living” (has the great
phrase- “His law he enforces, the stars in their courses, and sun in its orbit
obediently shine.”).
My pop song eclipse playlist: “Here comes the Sun” (The Beatles) “Soak up
the Sun” (Sheryl Crow); “A Sky Full of Stars” (Coldplay); “Fly Me to the Moon”
(Frank Sinatra); “Moonshadow” (Cat Stevens)
But specifically for a solar eclipse:
“You’re so Vain” (Carly Simon); “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (Bonnie
Tyler); “Bad Moon Rising” (Credence Clearwater Revival); “Eclipse” (Pink
Floyd);
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