Luke 23:45

‘And the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.'

And as a result of that time, the veil of the Temple was torn in two. 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, or the veil that guarded the way into the Holy Place. Both were only symbolic for they had been replaced by doors, but the veils were hung over the doors so as to preserve the old features of the Tabernacle.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). Although the alternative was that it indicated that God had deserted the Holy of Holies (compare Ezekiel 11:22). Or that it represented the equivalent of His ‘rending His garment'.

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. In favour of the inner veil is its deeper symbolism, and even though it would not be seen by all, such a happening would not be able to be 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 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 seem that the temple mount was subject to earth movements which caused strange things to happen. It may well therefore also have happened forty years before.

Note that in the chiasmus this descent of darkness and splitting of the veil parallels the distress and beating of the breasts of the onlookers (Luke 23:48). God's distress at what was happening is seen to have communicated itself to men.