I learned from your writings that the prophecy of Joel preached by Peter refers to the day of Pentecost, and the "last days" are probably referring to those days between the resurrection of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem at 70 AD. Joel was prophesying, "The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day." A friend of mine who was familiar with astronomy once said perhaps this is stating about a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse. If there were those eclipses observed in Jerusalem just before Pentecost, this prophecy would have made sense for those hearing Peter's message. How do you think and do you know whether those eclipses had happened actually? -- Tadashi Tsumura (Osaka)
If you check references to sun darkening, stars falling to earth etc. in the OT, you will see that this is only poetic language. It is normally used in referring to national destructions/punishments.
Anyway, a solar eclipse would not be possible. Passover was a full moon, right? Pentecost would need to be 29 days or so after Pentecost.... which it isn't. I know of no recorded eclipses in the year 30 (or the year 33, which is NT scholars' second choice) for the period in question. Even a lunar eclipse is unlikely. I think jumping for an astronomical explanation results from unfamiliarity with OT prophetic language.
