Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Ver. 45. Darkness over all the land] The sun hid his head in a mantle of black, as ashamed to behold those base indignities done to the Son of righteousness by the sons of men a This darkness some think was universal; not only over all the land of Judea, but over the whole earth (and so the text, επι πυσαν την γην, may be rendered). Tiberius, say they, was sensible of it at Rome; Dionysius writes to Polycarpus that they had it in Egypt. And another great astronomer, Ptolemy (if I mistake not), was so amazed at it that he pronounced either nature now determineth, or the God of nature suffereth.
Unto the ninth hour] In this three hours' darkness he was set upon by all the powers of darkness with utmost might and malice. But he foiled and spoiled them all, and made an open show of them (as the Roman conquerors used to do), triumphing over them on his cross, as on his chariot of state,Colossians 2:15, attended by his vanquished enemies with their hands bound behind them, Ephesians 4:8 .
a Sol non fert aspectum illum miserandum, quem sine rubore et fronte Iudaei irrident. Aretius.