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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In my going up to the mount to take the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, and I shall dwell in the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate not bread and I drank not water:
And all the sons of Israel and all the people will go up, and they will come to the house of God, and they will weep, and they will sit there before Jehovah, and they will fast in that day till the evening, and they will bring up burnt-offerings and peace before Jehovah.
And in the twenty and fourth day to this month, the sons of Israel were gathered together with fasting and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
And it will be in the fifth year to Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people coming from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem.
And in these days I Daniel was mourning three weeks of days. Bread of desires I ate not, and flesh and wine came not into my mouth, and anointing, I did not anoint myself even to the filling up of three weeks of days.
Gather the people, consecrate the convocation, assemble the old men, gather the children and those sucking the breasts: the bridegroom shall come forth from his chamber and the bride from her nuptial couch.
And the men of Nineveh will believe in God, and they will call a fast, and put on sackcloth, from great and even to small.
And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.
And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward. And thou fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; read more. That thou mightest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father which in secret; and thy Father which in secret, will give back to thee openly.
And he said to them, Ye cannot make the sons of the nuptial-chamber fast, when the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come also, when the bridegroom shall be carried away from them; then shall they fast in those days.
Then having fasted and prayed, and put hands upon them, they let go.
(For we walk by faith, and not by external appearance:)
In fatigue and toil, in watchfulnesses often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold 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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For yet seven days, and I will give rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights: and I will wipe out every living thing which I made from the face of the earth.
And the rain shall be upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
And it was to you for a law forever: in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month ye shall humble your souls, and all work ye shall not do, the native and the stranger sojourning in the midst of you. For in that day he shall expiate for you, to cleanse you from all your sins: before Jehovah shall ye be clean. read more. And this is a Sabbath of Sabbath to you, and ye humbled your souls, a law forever.
But in this tenth of the seventh month, a day of expiation; shall be a holy calling to you, and ye humbled your souls, and brought a sacrifice to Jehovah.
And your sons shall be fed in the desert forty years, and bear your fornications till your carcasses be finished in the desert
Every vow, and every oath of binding to afflict the soul, her husband shall cause it to stand, and her husband shall annul it
And the anger of Jehovah will kindle against Israel, and he will cause them to wander in the desert forty years, till the finishing of all the generation having done evil in the eyes of Jehovah. And behold, ye rise up instead of your fathers, a growth of men sinners, to add yet to the burning anger of Jehovah to Israel.
Thou shalt not eat upon it leavened; seven days thou shalt eat upon it unleavened, the bread of affliction; (for in hasty flight thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt) so that thou shalt remember the day of thy coming forth from the land of Egypt all the days of thy life,
Forty he shall beat him; He shall not add, lest he shall add to strike him above them with much beating, and thy brother was despised before thine eyes.
And all the sons of Israel and all the people will go up, and they will come to the house of God, and they will weep, and they will sit there before Jehovah, and they will fast in that day till the evening, and they will bring up burnt-offerings and peace before Jehovah.
And they will gather together to Mizpeh, and draw water and pour out before Jehovah; and they will fast in that day and say there, We sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel will judge the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.
And Jehoshaphat will fear, and he will give his face to seek to Jehovah, and he will call a fast for all Judah.
And I shall call a fast there, upon the river Ahava, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to ask from the king strength and horsemen to help us from the enemy in the way: for we said to the king, saying, The hand of our God upon all seeking him for good; and his strength and his anger against all forsaking him. read more. And we will fast and seek of our God concerning this; and he will be entreated for us.
And Ezra will rise up from before the house of God, and will go the chamber of Johanan son of Eliashib: and he will go there, he ate not bread and drank not water: for he was mourning for the transgression of the exiles.
And it will be in my hearing these words, I sat down, and I shall weep and mourn days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens,
And in the twenty and fourth day to this month, the sons of Israel were gathered together with fasting and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
Go collect together all the Jews being found in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and ye shall not eat and ye shall not drink three days, night and day also I and my maidens will fast thus and in this I will go in to the king which is not according to the edict; and according to that I perished, I perished.
I was poured out as water, and all my bones were sundered; my heart was as wax being melted in the midst of my bowels.
They shall melt away as water shall go about to them: he will bend his arrow, they shall be as cut off.
And I will weep with fasting of my soul, and it will be for reproaches to me.
Forty years I shall loathe to the generation, and saying, A people they wandering in heart, and they knew not my ways:
behold, for contention and strife ye will fast, and to strike with the fist of injustice: ye shall not fast as today to cause your voice to be heard on high. Will this be the fast I shall choose? a day for a man to humble his soul? to bend his head as a bulrush, and he will place sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast and a day of acceptance to Jehovah. read more. Is not this the fast I shall choose? to loose the bands of injustice, to shake off the bundles of the yoke, and to send away the broken free, and ye shall break every yoke? Is it not to break thy bread to the hungry, and thou shalt bring the wandering poor to thy house? when thou shalt see the naked and cover him; and thou shalt not hide from thy flesh.
And go thou and read in the roll which thou wrotest from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in the house of Jehovah in the day of fasting: and also in the ears of all Judah coming from their cities thou shalt read them. Perhaps their mercy will fall before the face of Jehovah, and they will turn back each from his evil way: for great the anger and the wrath which Jehovah spake against this people. read more. And Baruch son of Neriah will do according to all which Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, to read in the book the words of Jehovah in the house of Jehovah. And it will be in the fifth year to Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people coming from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem. And Baruch will read in the book all the words of Jeremiah hi the house of Jehovah in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the enclosure the highest of the entrance of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the ears of all the people.
In the eleventh year to Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth to the month, the city was broken.
And it will be in the seventh month, came Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, from the seed of the kingdom, and the chiefs of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to Mizpeh, and there will they eat bread together in Mizpeh. And Ishmael son of Nethaniah will rise, and the ten men which were with him, and they will strike Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, with the sword, and he will kill him whom the king of Babel appointed over the land. read more. And all the Jews which were with him with Gedaliah in Mizpeh, and the Chaldeans which were. found there with the men of war, Ishmael smote.
And it will be in the ninth year to his reigning, in the tenth month, in the tenth to the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem and they will encamp against her, and a watchtower against her round about
In the fourth month, in the ninth to the month, and the famine will be strong in the city, and there was not bread for the people of the land. And the city will be broken up, and all the men of war will flee and will go forth from the city by night, the way of the gate between the walls, which was by the king's garden; (and the Chaldeans upon the city round about:) and they will go the way of the sterile region.
And in the fifth month, in the tenth to the month, this year the nineteenth year to king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, came Nebuzaradan, chief of the cooks, standing before the face of the king of Babel, into Jerusalem, And he will burn the house of Jehovah, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt in fire: read more. And all the walls of Jerusalem round about, all the strength of the Chaldees which were with the chief of the cooks, brake down.
And finishing these, and thou didst lie upon thy right side the second time, and thou didst bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: a day for a year, a day for a year I gave it to thee,
The foot of man shall not pass through it, and the foot of cattle shall not pass through it, and it shall not be inhabited forty years.
Bread of desires I ate not, and flesh and wine came not into my mouth, and anointing, I did not anoint myself even to the filling up of three weeks of days.
Consecrate a fast., call an assembly, gather together the old men, all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah.
Clang ye the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast, call a restraining.
And Jonah will begin to go in to the city the going of one day, and he will call, and say, Yet forty days and Nineveh being overthrown.
To speak to the priests which were to the house of Jehovah of armies, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself according as I did, how many the years? And the word of Jehovah of armies was to me, saying, read more. Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this seventy years, fasting, fasted ye to me, me?
Thus said Jehovah of armies: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and for gladness, and for good appointments; and love ye truth and peace.
Ye said, Vanity to serve God: and what profit that we watched his watches, and that we went mourning from the face of Jehovah of armies?
And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward.
Then came to him the disciples of John; saying, Wherefore do we and the Pharisees fast much, and thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.
And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.
But this kind goes not forth but by prayer and fasting.
And he said to them, This kind can go, out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
I fast twice of the Sabbath; I pay tithes of all I possess.
Then having fasted and prayed, and put hands upon them, they let go.
And having chosen them elders in the church, having prayed with fasting, they set them before the Lord, in whom they had believed.
And a suitable time having intervened, and sailing being already dangerous, for the fast had already passed by, Paul advised,
He minding the day, minds to the Lord; and he not minding the day, to the Lord he minds not. He eating, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he not eating, to the Lord he eats not, and he gives thanks to God.
Deprive ye not one another, except somewhat of an agreement for a time, that ye might have leisure for fasting and prayer; and again upon the same ye might come together, lest Satan tempt you for your want of self command.
And food sets us not before God: for neither, if we eat, do we abound; neither if we eat not, do we want.
Let none condemn you being willing in humility and religious worship of angels, going into what he has not seen, vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh, And not having power over the Head, from whom all the body, by all the senses of touch and connections furnished and joined together, increases with the increase of God. read more. If therefore ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as living in the world, do ye dogmatize, (Touch not; neither taste; neither shouldest thou handle; Which are all for corruption in the using;) according to the commands and doctrines of men? Which things truly are having the word of wisdom in worship according to one's will, and humility, and prodigality of the body; not in any honour to satisfying the flesh.
Hindering to marry, to keep from victuals which God created for participation, with thanks, for the faithful and them knowing the truth.
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And it was to you for a law forever: in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month ye shall humble your souls, and all work ye shall not do, the native and the stranger sojourning in the midst of you.
And it was to you for a law forever: in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month ye shall humble your souls, and all work ye shall not do, the native and the stranger sojourning in the midst of you. For in that day he shall expiate for you, to cleanse you from all your sins: before Jehovah shall ye be clean. read more. And this is a Sabbath of Sabbath to you, and ye humbled your souls, a law forever.
And this is a Sabbath of Sabbath to you, and ye humbled your souls, a law forever.
But in this tenth of the seventh month, a day of expiation; shall be a holy calling to you, and ye humbled your souls, and brought a sacrifice to Jehovah.
A Sabbath of rest it is to you; ye humbled your souls: in the ninth of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.
A Sabbath of rest it is to you; ye humbled your souls: in the ninth of the month, in the evening, from evening to evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.
And in the tenth to this seventh month a holy calling shall be to you: ye afflicted your souls: all work ye shall not do.
And in the tenth to this seventh month a holy calling shall be to you: ye afflicted your souls: all work ye shall not do.
Every vow, and every oath of binding to afflict the soul, her husband shall cause it to stand, and her husband shall annul it
And all the sons of Israel and all the people will go up, and they will come to the house of God, and they will weep, and they will sit there before Jehovah, and they will fast in that day till the evening, and they will bring up burnt-offerings and peace before Jehovah.
And they will take their bones and bury under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they will fast seven days.
And David will seek God for the boy, and fast a fast; and he came and passed the night and lay upon the earth.
And David will seek God for the boy, and fast a fast; and he came and passed the night and lay upon the earth. And the old men of his house will rise to him to lift him up from the earth; and he would not, and he ate not bread with them.
And it will be in the ninth year to his reigning, in the tenth month, in the tenth to the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel came, he, and all his strength, against Jerusalem, and he will encamp against it, and build a watch tower against her round about.
And in the fifth month, in the seventh to the month. (this year the nineteenth year to king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babel,) came Nebuzaradan, chief of the cooks, servant of the king of Babel, to Jerusalem.
And I shall call a fast there, upon the river Ahava, to humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to ask from the king strength and horsemen to help us from the enemy in the way: for we said to the king, saying, The hand of our God upon all seeking him for good; and his strength and his anger against all forsaking him. read more. And we will fast and seek of our God concerning this; and he will be entreated for us.
And it will be in my hearing these words, I sat down, and I shall weep and mourn days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens,
And it will be in my hearing these words, I sat down, and I shall weep and mourn days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of the heavens, And saying, Now O Jehovah, God of the heavens, the great and terrible God watching the covenant and mercy to those loving him, and to those watching his commands: read more. Will now thine ear be attentive and thine eye opened to hear to the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee this day, day and night, for the sons of Israel thy servants, and confess for the sins of the sons of Israel which we sinned against thee? and and the house of my father sinned. Being perverse, we were perverse against thee, and we watched not the commands and the laws and the judgments which thou didst command Moses thy servant Remember now the word that thou didst command Moses thy servant, saying, Ye will transgress; I will scatter you among the nations: And did ye turn back to me and watch my commands and do them; if there shall be a thrusting forth of you into the extremity of the heavens, from thence will I gather them and bring them to the place which I chose for my name to dwell there. And these thy servants and thy people whom thou didst redeem in thy great power and by thy strong hand. Now, O Lord, now will thine ear be attending to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, desiring to fear thy name? and prosper now to thy servant this day: and wilt thou give him for compassion before this man? And I was giving drink to the king.
And there dwelt the priests and the Levites and the gatekeepers, and those singing, and from the people and the Nethinims, and all Israel in their cities; and the seventh month will draw near, and the sons of Israel in their cities.
And in the twenty and fourth day to this month, the sons of Israel were gathered together with fasting and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
And they will rise up upon their standing and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God, the fourth of the day; and a fourth confessing and worshiping to Jehovah their God.
And for all this we cut out faithfulness, and write; and upon the sealing, our chiefs, our Levites, and our priests
And I, in their being sick, my clothing sackcloth: I humbled my soul in fasting, and my prayer shall be turned back upon my bosom.
For what did we fast, and thou sawest not? we humbled our soul and thou wilt not know? Behold, in the day of your fasting ye will find desire, and ye will exact all your labors.
Will this be the fast I shall choose? a day for a man to humble his soul? to bend his head as a bulrush, and he will place sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast and a day of acceptance to Jehovah.
In the eleventh year to Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth to the month, the city was broken.
And it will be in the seventh month, came Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, from the seed of the kingdom, and the chiefs of the king, and ten men with him, to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, to Mizpeh, and there will they eat bread together in Mizpeh.
And it will be in the ninth year to his reigning, in the tenth month, in the tenth to the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem and they will encamp against her, and a watchtower against her round about
In the fourth month, in the ninth to the month, and the famine will be strong in the city, and there was not bread for the people of the land.
And in the fifth month, in the tenth to the month, this year the nineteenth year to king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, came Nebuzaradan, chief of the cooks, standing before the face of the king of Babel, into Jerusalem,
And I will give my face to Jehovah God to seek prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes:
And the word will reach to the king of Nineveh, and he will rise from his throne, and he will take away his wide cloak from off him, and he will cover with sackcloth, and he will sit upon ashes. And he will cry out and say in Nineveh from the edict of the king and of his great ones, saying, The man and beast, the herd and flock shall not taste of anything; they shall not feed and they shall not drink water.
To speak to the priests which were to the house of Jehovah of armies, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself according as I did, how many the years? And the word of Jehovah of armies was to me, saying, read more. Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh, and this seventy years, fasting, fasted ye to me, me?
Thus said Jehovah of armies: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and for gladness, and for good appointments; and love ye truth and peace.
Thus said Jehovah of armies: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah for joy and for gladness, and for good appointments; and love ye truth and peace.
And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward. And thou fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; read more. That thou mightest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father which in secret; and thy Father which in secret, will give back to thee openly.
Then came to him the disciples of John; saying, Wherefore do we and the Pharisees fast much, and thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the nuptial chamber cannot mourn inasmuch as the bridegroom is with them; but the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast. read more. And no one puts on a cover of uncombed fragment upon an old garment, for its filling takes away from the garment, and the division is Worse. Neither do they cast new wine into old wineskins: but if otherwise, the wine-skins burst, and the wine is poured out, and the wine-skins are destroyed; but they cast new wine into new wine-skins, and they are both preserved.
But this kind goes not forth but by prayer and fasting.
And the disciples of John, and of the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say to him, Why do the disciples of John, and of the Pharisees fast, and the disciples to thee fast not? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the nuptial-chamber, in which the bridegroom is with them, fast? as much time as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. read more. And the days shall come when the bridegroom should he taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. And none sews a piece of uncombed fragment upon an old garment; and lest its new filling-up take away from the old, and the splitting be worse. And none puts new wine in old wine-skins: and lest the new wine rend the wine-skins, and the wine be poured out, and the wine-skins perish; but they put new wine in new wine-skins.
And he said to them, This kind can go, out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
And they said to him, Wherefore do the disciples of John fast frequently, and make prayers, and likewise they of the Pharisees; and they to thee eat and drink And he said to them, Ye cannot make the sons of the nuptial-chamber fast, when the bridegroom is with them. read more. But the days will come also, when the bridegroom shall be carried away from them; then shall they fast in those days. And he also spake to them a parable; That none put a piece of new garment, upon an old garment; and if not so, the new also splits, and the piece from the new agrees not with the old. And none put new wine into old wineskins; and if not so, the new wine bursts the wine-skins, and it will be poured out, and the wine-skins will perish. But new wine cast into new wine-skins; and both are kept. And none drinking old, quickly desires new, for he says, The old is better.
I fast twice of the Sabbath; I pay tithes of all I possess.
And Cornelius said, From the fourth day till this hour I was fasting; and the ninth hour praying in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
And they serving the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Separate to me Barnabas and Saul to the work which I have called them.
And having chosen them elders in the church, having prayed with fasting, they set them before the Lord, in whom they had believed.
In blows, in imprisonments, in disorders, in fatigues, in watchings, in fastings;
In fatigue and toil, in watchfulnesses often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold 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.
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And Moses will come into the midst of the cloud, and will go up to the mountain: and Moses will be in the mountain forty days and forty nights.
And Joshua will rend his garments and will fall upon his face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah even till evening, he and the old men of Israel; and they will lift up dust upon their heads.
And all the sons of Israel and all the people will go up, and they will come to the house of God, and they will weep, and they will sit there before Jehovah, and they will fast in that day till the evening, and they will bring up burnt-offerings and peace before Jehovah.
And David will seek God for the boy, and fast a fast; and he came and passed the night and lay upon the earth.
And he will rise and eat and drink, and go in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, even to the mountain of God, Horeb.
Gather the people, consecrate the convocation, assemble the old men, gather the children and those sucking the breasts: the bridegroom shall come forth from his chamber and the bride from her nuptial couch.
And the men of Nineveh will believe in God, and they will call a fast, and put on sackcloth, from great and even to small. And the word will reach to the king of Nineveh, and he will rise from his throne, and he will take away his wide cloak from off him, and he will cover with sackcloth, and he will sit upon ashes.
And having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry.
And when ye fast, be not, as hypocrites, of gloomy aspect: for they conceal their faces that they might appear to men fasting. Verily I say to you, That they have their reward.
And he said to them, Ye cannot make the sons of the nuptial-chamber fast, when the bridegroom is with them. But the days will come also, when the bridegroom shall be carried away from them; then shall they fast in those days.