Joel 2:31 Darkness: Strong’s: (chôshek), kho-shek'; from H2821; the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness:—dark(-ness), night, obscurity.
(A verb showing action - something not normal – unusual. Standing outside at night, one would expect a certain amount of light – but this is all the light taken away!)
Gen 1:2 (chôshek) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness
H2822 was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:4 (chôshek) And God saw the light, that
it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
H2822
[can be summarized as “deprived of light”, or that the “light is taken”. In other words, it is the near total absence of light. (Like standing deep in a coal mine)]
Joel 2:10 Dark: Strong’s: קָדַר qâdar, kaw-dar'; a primitive root; to be ashy, i.e. dark-colored; by implication, to mourn (in sackcloth or sordid garments):—be black(-ish), be (make) dark(-en), × heavily, (cause to) mourn. (Masculine noun describing a normal condition)
1Ki 18:45 (qâdar) And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black
H6937 with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.
Joe 3:15 (qâdar) The sun and the moon shall be darkened,
H6937 and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Jer 4:28 (qâdar) For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black:
H6937 because I have spoken
it, I have purposed
it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
summarized as “darkness, as opposed to black”, or “blackness, vs. black”. In other words, it is what we would commonly describe as “the dark of night” as opposed to the “the absence of all light” as if standing in a coal mine.
Consider Joel 2: same writer, same letter - why would he use two different words for the condition of darkness in the two different verses? One verse, 31 comes before THE DAY, but verse 10, it seems, is IN the day. And verse 10 uses the same word he used in chapter 3, a time of Jesus’ coming.
It seems Joel was seeing TWO DIFFERENT types of darkness. In one, the sky is totally dark – not even star light, so the absence of light – abnormal.
In Matthew and Mark, the same Greek word is used for darkness.
skotizó: to darken It is a verb.
Strong’s: “to cover with darkness, to darken; passive, to be covered with darkness, be darkened”: properly, of the heavenly bodies, as deprived of light
We see then that Joel 2:10, 3:15, Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:24 appear to be detailing the same type of event when it comes to the occurrence in the sun. All four scriptures tell us that the light of the sun will be taken from the earth when this event comes to pass. This is very similar to ordinary nightfall. All these use a verb form to describe it.
Now Rev. 6:12-13
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the
sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and the
moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
black as sackcloth of hair What does this mean?
Vine’s for sackcloth: “made from the hair of the black goat of Cilicia;” “a warm material woven from goat’s or camel’s hair,” and hence of a dark color,” “ also for making sacks,”
Bible Dictionary: “Sackcloth (pv sak aeKKos saccys) was a coarse woven materials from goats and camels hair and dark of a color Hence: as we see from Rev 6:19 are ‘Became the black as sackcloth of hair…’”
Is there any light in “black as sackcloth of hair?” Could it describe the absence of light. Imagine looking at the sun and actually being ABLE to look at it, because it was putting out NO light at all. John is not bringing sackcloth to a new level of black, but rather he is setting the perception of the sun to what people of that day would see in black sackcloth – no light.
In fact, if the sun was putting out no light, it would probably not even be visible. In such a case, the moon should not be visible either – but the moon appears blood red – so we have a very unusual condition in both the sun and the moon.