A.T. Robertson Commentary Matthew 27:51

"And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake; and the rocks were rent;" — Matthew 27:51 (ASV)

Was rent (εσχισθη). Both Mark and Luke (Luke 23:45) mention also this fact. Matthew connects it with the earthquake, "the earth did quake" (η γη εσεισθη). Josephus (War VI. 299) tells of a quaking in the temple before the destruction and the Talmud tells of a quaking forty years before the destruction of the temple. Allen suggests that "a cleavage in the masonry of the porch, which rent the outer veil and left the Holy Place open to view, would account for the language of the Gospels, of Josephus, and of the Talmud." This veil was a most elaborately woven fabric of seventy-two twisted plaits of twenty-four threads each and the veil was sixty feet long and thirty wide. The rending of the veil signified the removal of the separation between God and the people (Gould).