Reference: Fasting
American
In all ages, and among all nations, fasting has been practiced in times of sorrow, and affliction, Jon 3:5. It may be regarded as a dictate of nature, which under these circumstances refuses nourishment, and suspends the cravings of hunger. In the Bible no example is mentioned of fasting, properly so-called, before Moses. His forty days' fast, like that of Elijah and of our Lord, was miraculous, De 9:9; 1Ki 19:8; Mt 4:2. The Jews often had recourse to this practice, when they had occasion to humble themselves before God, to confess their sins and deprecate his displeasure, Jg 20:26; 1Sa 7:6; 2Sa 12:16; Ne 9:1; 1Ki 19:8; Jer 36:9. Especially in times of public calamity, they appointed extraordinary fasts, and made even the children at the breast fast, Joe 2:16; Da 10:2-3. They began the observance of their fasts, at sunset, and remained without eating until the same hour the next day. The great day of expiation was probably the only annual and national fast day among them.
It does not appear by his own practice or by his commands, that our Lord instituted any particular fast. On one occasion, he intimated that his disciples would fast after his death, Lu 5:34-35. Accordingly, the life of the apostles and first believers was a life of self-denials, sufferings, and fasting, 2Co 5:7; 11:27. Our Savior recognized the custom, and the apostles practiced it as occasion required, Mt 6:16-18; Ac 13:3; 1Co 7:5.
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Then I went up to the mountain to receive the two stone Tablets of the Covenant that the LORD had established with you. I stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights without eating food or drinking water.
All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence.
On the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the Israelis gathered together while fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dust.
In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed in the LORD's presence in Jerusalem for all the people of Jerusalem, as well as all the people who were coming from the towns of Judah.
"At that time I, Daniel, had been mourning for three straight weeks. I ate no fancy foods neither meat nor wine entered my mouth. Furthermore, I didn't use any ointment until the end of the entire three weeks.
Gather the people! Dedicate the congregation! Bring in the elders. Gather the youngsters and even the nursing infants. Call the bridegroom from his wedding preparations, and the bride from her dressing room.
The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least important.
After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he finally became hungry.
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward! But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, read more. so that your fasting will not be noticed by others but by your Father who is in the hidden place. And your Father who watches from the hidden place will reward you."
But Jesus told them, "You can't force the wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them, can you? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and at that time they will fast."
Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go.
For we live by faith, not by sight.
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness.
Fausets
The word (tsum) never occurs in the Pentateuch. The Mosaic law, though directing minutely the foods to be eaten and to be shunned, never enjoins fasting. The false asceticism so common in the East was carefully avoided. On the yearly day of atonement, the 10th day of the 7th month, Israelites were directed to "afflict the soul" (Le 16:29-31; 23:27; Nu 30:13). This significant term implies that the essence of scriptural "fasting" lies in self humiliation and penitence, and that the precise mode of subduing the flesh to the spirit, and of expressing sorrow for sin, is left to the conscientious discretion of each person. In Ac 27:9 the yearly day of atonement is popularly designated "the fast."
But God, while not discountenancing outward acts of sorrow expressive of inward penitence, declares, "is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal the bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest thy naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?" (Isa 58:4-7.) Compare similar warnings against mistaking outward fasting as meritorious before God: Mal 3:14; Mt 6:16.
The only other periodical fasts in the Old Testament were those connected with the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar: the fast of the 4th month commemorated its capture (Jer 39:2; 52:6-7); that of the 5th month the burning of the temple and the chief houses (Jer 52:12-14); that of the 7th the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 41:1-3); that of the 10th the beginning of the siege (Zec 7:3-5; 8:19). Jer 52:4, "did ye at all fast unto ME, even to ME?" Nay, it was to gratify yourselves in hypocritical will worship. If it had been to Me, ye would have separated yourselves not merely from food but from your sins.
Once that the principle is acted on, "he that eateth eateth to the Lord, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not" (Ro 14:6), and "meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse" (1Co 8:8), fasting and eating are put in their true place, as means not ends. There are now 28 yearly fasts in the Jewish calendar. Daniel's (Da 10:3) mode of fasting was, "I ate no pleasant bread," i.e. "I ate unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction" (De 16:3), "neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth." In Mt 9:14 "fast" is explained by "mourn" in Mt 9:15, so that fasting was but an outward expression of mourning (Ps 69:10), not meritorious, nor sanctifying in itself.
A mark of the apostasy is "commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving" (1Ti 4:3). The "neglecting (not sparing) of the body," while seeming to deny self, really tends "to the satisfying of (satiating to repletion) the flesh." Ordinances of "will worship" gratify the flesh (self) while seeming to mortify it; for "self crowned with thorns in the cloister is as selfish as self crowned with ivy in the revel" (Col 2:18-23). Instances of special fasts of individuals and of the people in the Old Testament, either in mourning and humiliation or in prayer, occur in Jg 20:26; 1Sa 1:7; 20:34; 31:13; 2Sa 1:12; 12:21; 3:35; 1Ki 21:9-12; Ezr 8:21-23; 10:6; Es 4:16; Ne 1:4.
National fasts are alluded to in 1Sa 7:6 (wherein the drawing of water and pouring it out before Jehovah expressed their confession of powerlessness and utter prostration: Ps 22:14; 58:7; 2Sa 14:14); 2Ch 20:3; Jer 36:6-10; Ne 9:1; Joe 1:14; 2:15. In New Testament times the strict Jews fasted twice a week (Lu 18:12), namely, on the second and fifth days. While Christ is with His people either in body or in spirit, fasting is unseasonable, for joy alone can be where He is; but when His presence is withdrawn, sorrow comes to the believer and fasting is one mode of expressing his sorrowing after the Lord. This is Christ's teaching, Mt 9:15. As to the texts quoted for fasting as a mean of spiritual power, the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts omit Mt 17:21; they omit also "and fasting," Mr 9:29. They and Alexandrinus manuscript omit "fasting and," 1Co 7:5. Evidently the growing tendency to asceticism in post apostolic times accounts for these interpolations.
The apostles "prayed with fasting" in ordaining elders (Ac 13:3; 14:23). But this continuance of the existing Jewish usage never divinely ordered does not make it obligatory on us, except in so far as we severally, by experience, find it conducive to prayer. Moses', Elijah's, and Christ's (the great Antitype) 40 days' foodlessness was exceptional and miraculous. Forty is significant of punishment for sin, confession, or affliction. Christ, the true Israel, denied Himself for 40 days, as Israel indulged the flesh 40 years. They tempted God that time; He overcame the tempter all the 40 days (Ge 7:4,12; Nu 14:33; 32:13-14; Ps 95:10; De 25:3; 2Co 11:24; Eze 29:11; 4:6; Jon 3:4).
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Seven days from now I'll send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and I'll destroy every living creature that I've made."
and it rained throughout the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.
"This is to be a perpetual statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you (including both the native born and the resident alien) are to humble yourselves by not doing any work, because on that day, atonement will be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins. You are to be clean in the LORD's presence. read more. It's the Sabbath of all Sabbaths for you, so humble yourselves. This is to be a perpetual statute.
"However, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It's a sacred assembly for you. Humble yourselves and bring an offering made by fire to the LORD.
and your children will wander throughout the wilderness for 40 years. They'll bear the consequences of your idolatries until your bodies are entirely consumed in the wilderness.
Her husband may confirm or revoke every vow and binding obligation that afflicts her.
"The LORD's anger had flared up against Israel so that he made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation, who committed evil in the eyes of the LORD, had died. And now, look! You're acting just like your ancestors, like a brood of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the LORD against the Israelis one step at a time.
You must not eat any yeast with it. Instead, for seven days eat bread without yeast the bread of affliction because you left the land of Egypt in haste. Remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt for the rest of your lives.
But he must not be beaten more than 40 lashes, because if he receives more than 40 lashes, your brother will be humiliated in your eyes.
All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence.
So they came together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out in the LORD's presence.
In mounting fear, Jehoshaphat devoted himself to seek the LORD. He proclaimed a period of fasting throughout all of the territory of Judah,
Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so we could humble ourselves before our God and seek from him an appropriate way for us and our little ones to live, and how we should guard our personal wealth, because I was ashamed to ask the king for a contingent of soldiers and cavalry to protect us from enemies we might encounter on the way. After all, we had told the king, "The hand of our God seeks the good of all who seek him, but his power and anger are against everyone who forsakes him." read more. So we fasted and asked our God about this, and he listened to us.
Ezra arose in front of the Temple of God to visit the apartment of Eliashib's son Jehohanan. While there, he neither ate nor drank because he was in mourning over the sins of those who had returned from exile.
When I heard this, I sat down and cried, mourning for a number of days while I fasted and prayed in the presence of the God of Heaven.
On the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the Israelis gathered together while fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dust.
"Go and gather all the Jewish people who are in Susa and fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days, night or day. Both I and my young women will also fast in the same way, and then I'll go in to the king, even though it's against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
I am poured out like water; all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me.
May they flow away like rain water that runs off, may they become like someone who shoots broken arrows.
For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said, "They are a people whose hearts continuously err, and they have not understood my ways."
"Look! You fast only for quarreling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard on high. "Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen, merely a day for a person to humble himself? Is it merely for bowing down one's head like a bulrush, for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, an acceptable day to the LORD? read more. Isn't this the fast that I have been choosing: to loose the bonds of injustice, and to untie the cords of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him with clothing, and not to raise yourself up from your own flesh and blood?"
You go and read the words of the LORD that you wrote at my dictation from the scroll. Read them to the people at the LORD's Temple on the fast day. Also read them to all the people of Judah who are coming from their towns. Perhaps their pleas for help will come to the LORD's attention, and each of them will turn from his evil lifestyle in light of the great anger and wrath that the LORD has declared against this people." read more. So Neriah's son Baruch did just as Jeremiah the prophet instructed him, reading the words of the LORD from the scroll at the LORD's Temple. In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Josiah's son Jehoiakim, king of Judah, a fast was proclaimed in the LORD's presence in Jerusalem for all the people of Jerusalem, as well as all the people who were coming from the towns of Judah. Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll to all the people at the LORD's Temple. He did this from the office of Shaphan's son Gemariah the scribe, in the upper court at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's Temple.
On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, the wall of the city was breached.
In the seventh month, Nethaniah's son Ishmael, the grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Ahikam's son Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ten men. While they were dining together there at Mizpah, Nethaniah's son Ishmael and the ten men with him got up and killed Ahikam's son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, with swords and killed the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. read more. Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with him (that is, with Gedaliah) at Mizpah, along with the Chaldean soldiers who were found there.
and in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with all his army. He encamped near it and set up siege works all around it.
By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe that there was no food for the people of the land. The wall of the city was broken through, and all the soldiers fled, leaving the city at night through the gate between the two walls next to the king's garden, even though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah.
In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month it was the nineteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned the LORD's Temple, the king's house, and all the houses in Jerusalem. He also burned every public building with fire. read more. All the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.
When you have completed this, you are to sleep on your right side, symbolically bearing the iniquity of Judah for 40 days. Each day that I've assigned to you represents one year.
Neither man nor beast will walk through that area. It won't even be inhabited for 40 years.
I ate no fancy foods neither meat nor wine entered my mouth. Furthermore, I didn't use any ointment until the end of the entire three weeks.
Set apart time for a fast! Call a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and everyone living in the land to the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD!"
Now Nineveh was a very large city, requiring a three-day journey to cross through it. As Jonah started into the city on the first day's journey, he proclaimed the message, "40 days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!"
and to speak to the priests assigned to the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies along with the prophets, asking, "Am I to go about mourning, denying myself throughout the fifth month, as I have these many years?" Then this message from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies came to me: read more. "Talk to everyone in the land, as well as to the priests. Ask them, "When you were fasting and mourning during the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, were you really fasting for me?
"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "The fasts that occur in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be joyful and glad times for the house of Judah, replete with cheerful festivals. Therefore, love truth and peace.'"
You said, "It is futile to serve God,' and, "What did we get out of it when we carried out his requirements and went about like mourners in the presence of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies?'
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
Then John's disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast?" Jesus asked them, "The wedding guests can't mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."
Jesus asked them, "The wedding guests can't mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."
But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting."
He told them, "This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting."
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
Then they fasted and prayed, laid their hands on them, and let them go.
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Much time had been lost, and because navigation had become dangerous and the day of fasting had already past, Paul began to warn those on the ship,
The one who observes a special day, observes it to honor the Lord. The one who eats, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God. And the one who does not eat, refrains from eating to honor the Lord; yet he, too, gives thanks to God.
Do not withhold yourselves from each other unless you agree to do so just for a set time, in order to devote yourselves to prayer. Then you should come together again so that Satan does not tempt you through your lack of self-control.
However, food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat food that has been offered to an idol, and no better off if we do.
Let no one who delights in humility and the worship of angels cheat you out of the prize by rejoicing about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up for no reason by his carnal mind. He does not hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, which is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God enables it. read more. If you have died with the Messiah to the basic principles of the world, why are you submitting to its decrees as though you still lived in the world? "Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!" All of these things will be destroyed as they are used, because they are based on human commands and teachings. These things have the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they have no value against self-indulgence.
They will try to stop people from marrying and from eating certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
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"This is to be a perpetual statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you (including both the native born and the resident alien) are to humble yourselves by not doing any work,
"This is to be a perpetual statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you (including both the native born and the resident alien) are to humble yourselves by not doing any work, because on that day, atonement will be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins. You are to be clean in the LORD's presence. read more. It's the Sabbath of all Sabbaths for you, so humble yourselves. This is to be a perpetual statute.
It's the Sabbath of all Sabbaths for you, so humble yourselves. This is to be a perpetual statute.
"However, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It's a sacred assembly for you. Humble yourselves and bring an offering made by fire to the LORD.
It's a Sabbath of rest for you on which you are to humble yourselves starting the evening of the ninth day of the month. You are to observe your Sabbath from evening to evening."
It's a Sabbath of rest for you on which you are to humble yourselves starting the evening of the ninth day of the month. You are to observe your Sabbath from evening to evening."
"You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this same seventh month. You are to humble yourselves, and no servile work is to be done.
"You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth day of this same seventh month. You are to humble yourselves, and no servile work is to be done.
Her husband may confirm or revoke every vow and binding obligation that afflicts her.
All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence.
They took their bones, buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
After this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground.
After this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground. His closest advisors at the palace got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn't eat with them.
Zedekiah then rebelled against the king of Babylon, so on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his entire army approached Jerusalem, attacked it, encamped against it, and built a siege wall that surrounded the city.
On the seventh day of the fifth month, which was during the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign as king of Babylon, captain of the guard Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem
Then I called for a fast there at the Ahava River so we could humble ourselves before our God and seek from him an appropriate way for us and our little ones to live, and how we should guard our personal wealth, because I was ashamed to ask the king for a contingent of soldiers and cavalry to protect us from enemies we might encounter on the way. After all, we had told the king, "The hand of our God seeks the good of all who seek him, but his power and anger are against everyone who forsakes him." read more. So we fasted and asked our God about this, and he listened to us.
When I heard this, I sat down and cried, mourning for a number of days while I fasted and prayed in the presence of the God of Heaven.
When I heard this, I sat down and cried, mourning for a number of days while I fasted and prayed in the presence of the God of Heaven. I said, "Please, LORD, God of Heaven, the great and fearsome God who keeps the covenant, showing gracious love to those who love you and keep your commands, read more. please turn your attention to observe carefully and listen to the prayer of your servant today that I am presenting to you day and night on behalf of your servants, the Israelis. "I confess the sins that we Israelis have committed against you. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have abandoned you by not keeping your commands, your ceremonies, and your judgments that you proscribed to your servant Moses. Please remember what you spoke in commanding your servant Moses. You said, "If you rebel, I will scatter you among the nations but if you return to me, keeping my commands and doing them, even if your exiled people are in the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish my Name.' These are your servants as well as your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. "And now, Lord, I ask you to listen to the prayer of your servant and to the prayers of your servants who delight in revering your Name. I ask you, please prosper your servant today by granting him to receive favor from this man." Now I was the king's senior security advisor.
The priests, descendants of Levi, gatekeepers, singers, some of the people, the Temple Servants, and all the Israelis settled in their cities.
On the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the Israelis gathered together while fasting, wearing sackcloth, and covering themselves with dust.
While they stood there, they read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for one fourth of the day, and they confessed and worshipped the LORD their God for another fourth of the day.
"Because of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our descendants of Levi, and our priests hereby set their seals upon it."
But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth, humbled myself with fasting, and prayed from my heart repeatedly for them.
"Why have we fasted,' they ask, "but you do not see? "Why have we humbled ourselves,' they ask, "but you take no notice?'" "Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.
"Is this the kind of fast that I have chosen, merely a day for a person to humble himself? Is it merely for bowing down one's head like a bulrush, for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, an acceptable day to the LORD?
On the ninth day of the fourth month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, the wall of the city was breached.
In the seventh month, Nethaniah's son Ishmael, the grandson of Elishama, a member of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came to Ahikam's son Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with ten men. While they were dining together there at Mizpah,
and in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with all his army. He encamped near it and set up siege works all around it.
By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe that there was no food for the people of the land.
In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month it was the nineteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.
"So I turned my attention to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, accompanied with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his royal garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. Then he had this proclamation published throughout Nineveh: "By decree of the king and his nobles:
and to speak to the priests assigned to the Temple of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies along with the prophets, asking, "Am I to go about mourning, denying myself throughout the fifth month, as I have these many years?" Then this message from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies came to me: read more. "Talk to everyone in the land, as well as to the priests. Ask them, "When you were fasting and mourning during the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, were you really fasting for me?
"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "The fasts that occur in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be joyful and glad times for the house of Judah, replete with cheerful festivals. Therefore, love truth and peace.'"
"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: "The fasts that occur in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be joyful and glad times for the house of Judah, replete with cheerful festivals. Therefore, love truth and peace.'"
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward! But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, read more. so that your fasting will not be noticed by others but by your Father who is in the hidden place. And your Father who watches from the hidden place will reward you."
Then John's disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast?" Jesus asked them, "The wedding guests can't mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast." read more. "No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting."
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees would fast regularly. Some people came and asked Jesus, "Why do John's disciples and the Pharisees' disciples fast, but your disciples don't fast?" Jesus replied, "The wedding guests can't fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they can't fast. read more. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day." "No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth. If he does, the patch pulls away from it the new from the old and a worse tear is made. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will make the skins burst, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
He told them, "This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting."
Then they told him, "John's disciples frequently fast and pray, and so do those of the Pharisees. But your disciples keep right on eating and drinking." But Jesus told them, "You can't force the wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them, can you? read more. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and at that time they will fast." Then he told them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old garment. If he does, the new cloth will tear, and the piece from the new won't match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will make the skins burst, the wine will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is to be poured into fresh wineskins. No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine, because he says, "The old wine is good enough!'"
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set Barnabas and Saul apart for me to do the work for which I called them."
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, and with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger;
in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness.
Watsons
FASTING has been practised in all ages, and among all nations, in times of mourning, sorrow, and affliction. We see no example of fasting, properly so called, before Moses. Since the time of Moses, examples of fasting have been very common among the Jews. Joshua and the elders of Israel remained prostrate before the ark from morning till evening, without eating, after Israel was defeated at Ai, Jos 7:6. The eleven tribes which fought against that of Benjamin, fell down on their faces before the ark, and so continued till evening without eating, Jg 20:26. David fasted while the first child he had by Bathsheba was sick, 2Sa 12:16. The Heathens sometimes fasted: the king of Nineveh, terrified by Jonah's preaching, ordered that not only men, but also beasts, should continue without eating or drinking; should be covered with sackcloth, and each after their manner should cry to the Lord, Jon 3:5-6. The Jews, in times of public calamity, appointed extraordinary fasts, and made even the children at the breast fast, Joe 2:16. Moses fasted forty days upon Mount Horeb, Ex 24:18. Elijah passed as many days without eating, 1Ki 19:8. Our Saviour fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, Mt 4:2. These fasts were miraculous, and out of the common rules of nature.
2. Beside the solemn fast of expiation instituted by divine authority, the Jews appointed certain days of humiliation, called the fasts of the congregation. The calamities for which these were enjoined, were a siege, pestilence, diseases, famine, &c. They were observed on the second and fifth days of the week: they began at sunset, and continued till midnight of the following day. On these days they wore sackcloth next the skin, and rent their clothes; they sprinkled ashes on their heads, and neither washed their hands, nor anointed their heads with oil. The synagogues were filled with suppliants, whose prayers were long and mournful, and their countenances dejected with all the marks of sorrow and repentance.
3. As to the fasts observed by Christians, it does not appear by his own practice, or by his commands to his disciples, that our Lord instituted any particular fast. But when the Pharisees reproached him, that his disciples did not fast so often as theirs, or as John the Baptist's, he replied, "Can ye make the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bride-groom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days," Lu 5:34-35. Fasting is also recommended by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount; not as a stated, but as an occasional, duty of Christians, for the purpose of humbling their minds under the afflicting hand of God; and he requires that this duty be performed in sincerity, and not for the sake of ostentation, Mt 6:16.
4. Although Christians, says Dr. Neander, did not by any means retire from the business of life, yet they were accustomed to devote many separate days entirely to examining their own hearts, and pouring them out before God, while they dedicated their life anew to him with uninterrupted prayers, in order that they might again return to their ordinary occupations with a renovated spirit of zeal and seriousness, and with renewed powers of sanctification. These days of holy devotion, days of prayer and penitence, which individual Christians appointed for themselves, according to their individual necessities, were often a kind of fast-days. In order that their sensual feelings might less distract and impede the occupation of their heart with its holy contemplations, they were accustomed on these days to limit their corporeal wants more than usual, or to fast entirely. In the consideration of this, we must not overlook the peculiar nature of that hot climate in which Christianity was first promulgated. That which was spared by their abstinence on these days was applied to the support of the poorer brethren.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
When Moses went up on the mountain, he went into the center of the cloud and was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.
At this, Joshua tore his clothes, fell down to the ground on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening he and the leaders of Israel and they covered their heads with dust.
All the Israelis, including its army, went up from there to Bethel and wept, remaining there in the LORD's presence, fasting throughout the day until dusk, when they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the LORD's presence.
After this, the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah's wife had born to David, and the child became very ill. David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground.
So Elijah got up, ate and drank, and survived on that one meal for 40 days and nights as he set out on his journey to Horeb, God's mountain.
Gather the people! Dedicate the congregation! Bring in the elders. Gather the youngsters and even the nursing infants. Call the bridegroom from his wedding preparations, and the bride from her dressing room.
The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least important. When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his royal garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in ashes.
After fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he finally became hungry.
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
But Jesus told them, "You can't force the wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them, can you? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and at that time they will fast."