Reference: Fast
Easton
The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Le 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Ac 27:9).
The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zec 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts.
(1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex 32:19. (Comp. Jer 52:6-7.)
(2.) The fast of the fifth month, kept on the ninth of Ab (comp. Nu 14:27), to commemorate the burning of the city and temple (Jer 52:12-13).
(3.) The fast of the seventh month, kept on the third of Tisri (comp. 2Ki 25), the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 41:1-2).
(4.) The fast of the tenth month (comp. Jer 52:4; Eze 33:21; 2Ki 25:1), to commemorate the beginning of the siege of the holy city by Nebuchadnezzar.
There was in addition to these the fast appointed by Esther (Es 4:16).
Public national fasts on account of sin or to supplicate divine favour were sometimes held. (1.) 1Sa 7:6; (2.) 2Ch 20:3; (3.) Jer 36:6-10; (4.) Ne 9:1.
There were also local fasts. (1.) Jg 20:26; (2.) 2Sa 1:12; (3.) 1Sa 31:13; (4.) 1Ki 21:9-12; (5.) Ezr 8:21-23: (6.) Jon 3:5-9.
There are many instances of private occasional fasting (1Sa 1:1; 20:34; 2Sa 3:35; 12:16; 1Ki 21:27; Ezr 10:6; Ne 1:4; Da 10:2-3). Moses fasted forty days (Ex 24:18; 34:28), and so also did Elijah (1Ki 19:8). Our Lord fasted forty days in the wilderness (Mt 4:2).
In the lapse of time the practice of fasting was lamentably abused (Isa 58:4; Jer 14:12; Zec 7:5). Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocritical pretences in fasting (Mt 6:16). He himself appointed no fast. The early Christians, however, observed the ordinary fasts according to the law of their fathers (Ac 13:3; 14:23; 2Co 6:5).
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And Moses went into the mountain. And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
And as soon as he came nigh unto the host and saw the calf and the dancing, his wrath waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hand, and brake them even at the hill foot.
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights, and neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote in the tables the words of the covenant: even ten verses.
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, "Also the tenth day of the self seventh month, is a day of atonement, and shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and offer sacrifice unto the LORD. read more. Moreover ye shall do no work the same day, for it is a day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that humbleth not himself that day, he shall be destroyed from among his people. And whatsoever soul do any manner work that day, the same I will destroy from among his people. See that ye do no manner work therefore. And it shall be a law forever unto your generations after you in all your dwellings. A Sabbath of rest it shall be unto you, and ye shall humble your souls. The ninth day of the month at evening, and so forth from evening to evening again, ye shall keep your Sabbath."
"How long shall this evil multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me.
Then the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD, and fasted the same day unto evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
There was a man of Ramathaimzophim of mount Ephraim, named Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite:
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted the same day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the causes of the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
And so Jonathan arose from the table in a great anger and did eat no meat the second day of the month, for he was sorry for David, because his father had done him shame.
and took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And they mourned, wept and fasted until evening - for Saul, and Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel, because they were overthrown with the sword.
And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of God,
And she wrote in the letter, saying, "Proclaim fasting and set Naboth on high among the people, and set two unthrifties before him, and let them testify against him, saying, 'Thou didst curse both God and the king.' And upon that carry him out and stone him to death." read more. And the elders and nobles of his city, which dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letter which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed fasting, and set Naboth on high among the people,
And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed fasting throughout all Judah.
And even there at the water beside Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our children and all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king, soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had said unto the king, "The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness, and his violence and wrath is upon all them that forsake him." read more. So we fasted, and besought our God for this; and he heard us.
And Ezra stood up before the house of God, and went in to the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been in captivity.
When I heard these words, I sat me down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
In the four and twentieth day of this month came the children of Israel together with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them,
'Go thou thy way then, and gather together all the Jews that are found at Susa, and fast ye for me, that ye eat not and drink not in three days, neither day nor night. I and my damsels will fast likewise, and so will I go in to the king contrary to the commandment: if I perish, I perish.'"
Behold when ye fast, ye can find your own lusts, and can call cruelly on all your debtors. Ye fast to law and strive and to smite with fist wickedly. Fast not as ye now do, to make your voice to be heard upon high.
For though they fast, I will not hear their prayers. And though they offer burnt offerings and sacrifices, yet will not I accept them. For I will destroy them with the sword, hunger, and pestilence."
therefore go thou thither, and read the book, that thou hast written at my mouth: Namely, the words of the LORD, and read them in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: that the people, whole Judah, and all they that come out of the cities, may hear. Peradventure they will pray meekly before the face of LORD, and turn, every one from his wicked way. For great is the wrath and displeasure, that the LORD hath taken against this people." read more. So Baruch the son of Neriah did, according unto all that Jeremiah the Prophet commanded him, reading the words of the LORD out of the book in the LORD's house. And this was done in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, when it was commanded that all the people of Jerusalem should fast before the LORD, and they also that were come from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah out of the book within the house of the LORD, out of the treasury of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Scribe, which is beside the higher loft of the new door of the LORD's house: that all the people might hear.
But in the seventh Month it happened, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, one of the king's blood, came with them that were greatest about the king, and ten men that were sworn with him: unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizphah, and ate there together. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, with those ten men that were sworn to him, start up, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword; and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor of the land.
But in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth Month, the tenth day of the Month, it happened that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his Host, came before Jerusalem: and besieged it, and made them bulwarks round about it.
And in the fourth Month, the ninth day of the Month, there was so great hunger in the city that there were no more victuals for the people of the land. So all the soldiers brake away, and fled out of the city by night through the way of the port between the two walls by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans had compassed the city round about; yet went these men their way toward the wilderness.
Now the tenth day of the fifth Month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief captain and the king of Babylon's servants came unto Jerusalem, and burnt up the house of the LORD. He burnt up also the king's palace, all the houses, and all the gorgeous buildings in Jerusalem.
In the twelfth year, the fifth day of the tenth Month of our captivity, it happened, that one which was fled out of Jerusalem, came unto me, and said, "The city is destroyed."
At the same time, I, Daniel, mourned for the space of three weeks, so that I had no lust to eat bread: as for flesh and wine, there came none within my mouth: No, I did not once anoint myself, till the whole three weeks were out.
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed fasting, and arrayed themselves in sackcloth, as well the great as the small of them. And the tidings came unto the king of Nineveh, which arose out of his seat, and did his apparel off and put on sackcloth, and sat him down in ashes. read more. And it was cried and commanded in Nineveh by the authority of the king and of his lords, saying, "See that neither man or beast, ox or sheep taste ought at all, and that they neither feed or drink water." And they put on sackcloth both man and beast, and cried unto God mightily, and turned every man from his wicked way, and from doing wrong in which they were accustomed, saying, "Who can tell whether God will turn and repent, and cease from his fierce wrath, that we perish not?"
It happened also in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Chislev. What time as Sharezer and Regemmelech and the men that were with them, sent unto Bethel for to pray before the LORD: read more. and that they should say unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of Hosts, and to the prophets, "Should I weep in the fifth month, and abstain, as I have done now certain years?" Then came the word of the LORD of Hosts unto me, saying, "Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, now this seventy years, did ye fast unto me?
"Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, now this seventy years, did ye fast unto me? When ye ate also and drank, did ye not eat and drink for your own selves? read more. Are not these the words, which the LORD spake by his prophets afore time, when Jerusalem was yet inhabited and wealthy, she and the cities round about her: when there dwelt men, both toward the south and in the plain countries?'"
"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and prosperous high feasts unto the house of Judah: Only, love the truth and peace.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Then fasted they and prayed, and put their hands on them, and let them go.
And when they had ordained them elders by election in every congregation, after they had prayed and fasted, they commended them to God on whom they believed.
When much time was spent and sailing was now jeopardous, because also that we had overlong fasted, Paul put them in remembrance,