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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
{When I went up the mountain} to receive {the stone tablets}, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh {made} with you, and remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights, I did not eat food and I did not drink water.
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.
{And then} in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast {before} Yahweh.
In those days, I, Daniel, I [myself] was [in] mourning {for three whole weeks}. I had not eaten [any] choice food, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and {I did not use any ointment} {until the end of three whole weeks}.
gather [the] people, consecrate [the] assembly; assemble [the] elders, gather [the] children, even those [who are] breast-feeding; let [the] bridegroom come out from his private room, and [the] bride from her canopy.
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}.
and [after he] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.
"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But [when] you are fasting, {put olive oil on your head} and wash your face read more. so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]? But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."
Then, [after they] had fasted and prayed and placed [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away.
for we live by faith, not by sight--
with toil and hardship, often in sleepless nights, with hunger and thirst, often going hungry, in cold and poorly clothed.
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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
For {within seven days} I will send rain upon the earth [for] forty days and forty nights. And I will blot out all the living creatures that I have made from upon the face of the ground."
And the rain came upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
"And this shall be {a lasting statute} for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, [whether] the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst, because on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you; you must be clean from all your sins {before} Yahweh. read more. It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves--[it is] {a lasting statute}.
"Surely the Day of Atonement [is] on the tenth [day] of the seventh month; it shall be a holy assembly for you, and you shall deny yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
And your children will be shepherds in the desert forty years, and you will bear your unfaithfulness until {all your corpses have fallen} in the desert.
"Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it.
And {Yahweh became angry}, and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the entire generation who did evil in the {sight of Yahweh} {had died}. Behold, you stand in the place of your fathers, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more {Yahweh's fierce anger} against Israel.
You shall not eat {with it} anything leavened; seven days you shall eat {with it} unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
He may beat him [with] forty lashes, and he shall not do more [than these], so that he [will] not beat more in addition to these many blows, and your countryman would be degraded before your eyes.
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.
So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured [it] out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the {Israelites} at Mizpah.
Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek Yahweh. And he called for a fast through all Judah.
I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, "the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them." read more. So we fasted and sought our God for this and he responded to our prayer.
Ezra rose from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He did not eat food nor drink water because he was mourning over the sin of the exiles.
When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.
"Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink [for] three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which [is] not according to the law; if I perish, I perish.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted {within me}.
Let them run [away] like water [that] runs off. [When] he bends [the bow], let his arrows [be] as though they were cut off.
When I wept in the fasting of my soul, it became reproaches for me.
For forty years I loathed [that] generation, and said, '[They are] a people [whose] heart wanders. And my ways they do not know.'
Look! You fast to quarrel and strife, and to strike with a {wicked fist}. You shall not fast as [you do] {today}, to {make your voice heard} on the height. Is [the] fast I choose like this, a day for humankind to humiliate {himself}? To bow his head like a reed, and {make} his bed [on] sackcloth and ashes; you call this a fast and a day of pleasure to Yahweh? read more. Is this not [the] fast I choose: to release [the] bonds of injustice, to untie [the] ropes of [the] yoke, and to let [the] oppressed go free, and {tear} every yoke to pieces? [Is it] not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring {home} [the] poor, [the] homeless. When you see [the] naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your {relatives}.
So you must go and you shall read aloud from the scroll that you have written from my mouth the words of Yahweh in the hearing of the people [in] the temple of Yahweh on a day of fast, and also you shall read aloud in the hearing of all those of Judah who came from their towns. Perhaps their plea will fall {before} Yahweh and each one will turn away from his evil way, for great [is] the anger and wrath that Yahweh pronounced against this people." read more. And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet instructed him, to read aloud from the scroll the words of Yahweh [in] the temple of Yahweh. {And then} in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the towns of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast {before} Yahweh. Then Baruch read aloud from the scroll the words of Jeremiah [in] the temple of Yahweh, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the secretary, in the upper courtyard [at] the entrance of the New Gate of the temple of Yahweh in the hearing of all the people.
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the city was taken by assault.
{And then} in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and [one of] the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [at] Mizpah, {along with} ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, {along with} the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed [in an official position] over the land. read more. Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, {along with} the Chaldeans who were found there, {the soldiers}.
{And then} in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army. And they laid siege to it, and built siege works against it all around.
In the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was breached, and all {the soldiers} fled and went out from the city [by] night [by the] way of [the] gate between the two walls that [are] at the garden of the king, though [the] Chaldeans [were] all around the city. And they went [in] the direction of the Jordan Valley.
Now in the fifth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, which [was the] nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] guard, who stood {before} the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem. And he burned the {temple} of Yahweh, and the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire. read more. And all the army of [the] Chaldeans who [were] with [the] captain of [the] guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.
When you have completed these, then you must lie a second [time] on your right side; and you must bear the guilt of the house of Judah forty days, a day for each year, a day for each year I give it to you.
A foot of a human will not pass over it, and a foot of an animal will not pass over it, and so it will not be inhabited [for] forty years.
I had not eaten [any] choice food, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and {I did not use any ointment} {until the end of three whole weeks}.
Solemnize a fast! Call an assembly! Gather [the] elders, all [of] the inhabitants of the land [in] the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh.
Blow [the] trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly;
And Jonah began to go into the city a journey of one day, and he cried out and said, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be demolished!"
saying to the {priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts} and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?" And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, read more. "Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth [month], the fifth [month], the seventh [month], and the tenth [month] will be for the house of Judah jubilation and joy and merry festivals; therefore love truth and peace.'
You have said, '[It is] useless to serve God! What [is the] gain if we keep his requirements, and if we walk as mourners {before} Yahweh of hosts?
"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!
Then the disciples of John approached him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
And he said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer."
I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get.'
Then, [after they] had fasted and prayed and placed [their] hands on them, they sent [them] away.
And [when they] had appointed elders for them in every church, [after] praying with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
And [because] considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul strongly recommended,
The one who is intent on the day is intent on [it] for the Lord, and the one who eats eats for the Lord, because he is thankful to God, and the one who does not eat does not eat for the Lord, and he is thankful to God.
Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and [then] you should be {together} again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control.
But food does not bring us close to God. For neither if we eat do we have more, nor if we do not eat do we lack.
Let no one condemn you, taking pleasure in humility and the worship of angels, going into detail [about] [the things] which he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by the ligaments and sinews, grows with the growth of God. read more. If you have died with Christ to the elemental spirits of the world, why do you submit [to them] as [if] living in the world? "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch," which [things] are all [meant] for destruction by consuming according to human commandments and teachings, which [things] {although they have}, to be sure, an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and humility and unsparing treatment of the body, {do not have any value} against the indulgence of the flesh.
who forbid marrying [and insist on] abstaining from foods that God created for sharing in with thankfulness by those who believe and who know the truth,
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"And this shall be {a lasting statute} for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, [whether] the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst,
"And this shall be {a lasting statute} for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you must deny yourselves and you must not do any work, [whether] the native or the alien who is dwelling in your midst, because on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you; you must be clean from all your sins {before} Yahweh. read more. It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves--[it is] {a lasting statute}.
It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves--[it is] {a lasting statute}.
"Surely the Day of Atonement [is] on the tenth [day] of the seventh month; it shall be a holy assembly for you, and you shall deny yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves on the ninth [day] of the month in the evening--from evening to evening you must observe your [extraordinary] Sabbath."
It [is] {a Sabbath of complete rest} for you, and you shall deny yourselves on the ninth [day] of the month in the evening--from evening to evening you must observe your [extraordinary] Sabbath."
" 'And on the tenth of this seventh month you will have a holy convocation, and {you will afflict yourselves}; you will not do any work.
" 'And on the tenth of this seventh month you will have a holy convocation, and {you will afflict yourselves}; you will not do any work.
"Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it.
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.
Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.
David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.
David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground. The elders of his household stood over him to lift him up from the ground, but he [was] not willing, and he did not eat [any] food with them.
It happened that in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came, he and his army, against Jerusalem. He encamped against it and built siege works against it all around.
In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came [to] Jerusalem.
I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava to humble ourselves before our God in order to seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horses to protect us from enemies on the way because we said to the king, "the hand of our God is favorable to all who seek him, but his strength and anger are against all who forsake them." read more. So we fasted and sought our God for this and he responded to our prayer.
When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.
When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens. I said, "O Yahweh God of the heavens, the great and awesome one who keeps the covenant and loyal love for the ones who love him and for those who keep his commands. read more. Please, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I am praying before you by day and by night for your servants, the {Israelites}, and confessing the sins of the {Israelites} that we have sinned against you. I and my father's house have sinned. We have certainly offended you and have not kept the commands, regulations, and judgments that you have commanded your servant Moses. Please, remember the word that you have commanded to your servant Moses, saying, 'If you act unfaithfully I will scatter you all among the nations. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, even though all of your outcasts are at the furthest parts of heaven, I will gather them and bring them to the place which I have chosen to make my name dwell.' They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to revere in your name. Please, let your servant be successful this day and give him compassion before this man." I was cupbearer for the king.
So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities. When the seventh month came, the {Israelites} [were] in their cities.
On the twenty-fourth day of this month the {Israelites} gathered in fasting, in sackcloths, and with soil on them.
They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.
"Now because of all of this we make a binding written agreement and are writing on the sealed documents [the names of] our commanders, our Levites, and our priests."
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing [was] sackcloth. I weakened my soul with fasting, and my prayer {returned to me unanswered}.
'Why do we fast, and you do not see [it]? We humiliate our soul, and you do not notice [it]?' Look! You find delight on the day of your fast, and you oppress all your workers!
Is [the] fast I choose like this, a day for humankind to humiliate {himself}? To bow his head like a reed, and {make} his bed [on] sackcloth and ashes; you call this a fast and a day of pleasure to Yahweh?
In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the city was taken by assault.
{And then} in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, from the offspring of the kingship, and [one of] the chief officers of the king, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam [at] Mizpah, {along with} ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah.
{And then} in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came against Jerusalem, he and all his army. And they laid siege to it, and built siege works against it all around.
In the fourth month, on [the] ninth [day] of the month, the famine in the city became severe and there was no food for the people of the land.
Now in the fifth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, which [was the] nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] guard, who stood {before} the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem.
Then I turned my face to the Lord God to seek [him] [by] prayer and pleas for mercy, in fasting and [in] sackcloth and ashes.
And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. And he had a proclamation made, and said, "In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles: "No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water!
saying to the {priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts} and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?" And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying, read more. "Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth [month], the fifth [month], the seventh [month], and the tenth [month] will be for the house of Judah jubilation and joy and merry festivals; therefore love truth and peace.'
"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'The fast of the fourth [month], the fifth [month], the seventh [month], and the tenth [month] will be for the house of Judah jubilation and joy and merry festivals; therefore love truth and peace.'
"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But [when] you are fasting, {put olive oil on your head} and wash your face read more. so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Then the disciples of John approached him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. read more. But no one puts a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment, for its patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear becomes worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins. {Otherwise} the wineskins burst and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are destroyed. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved."
And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and said to him, "{Why} do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "The {bridegroom's attendants} are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, [are they]? As long a time [as] they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast. read more. But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a patch of unshrunken cloth on an old garment. {Otherwise} the patch pulls away from it--the new from the old--and the tear becomes worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. {Otherwise} the wine will burst the wineskins and the wine is destroyed and the wineskins [too]. But new wine [is put] into new wineskins."
And he said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing except by prayer."
And they said to him, "The disciples of John fast often and make prayers--likewise also the [disciples] of the Pharisees--but yours are eating and drinking!" So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]? read more. But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days." And he also told a parable to them: "No one tears a patch from a new garment [and] puts [it] on an old garment. Otherwise, he will have torn the new also, and the old will not match the patch [that is] from the new. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the wineskins, and it will be spilled and the wineskins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into new wineskins. And no one [after] drinking old [wine] wants new, because he says, 'The old is [just] fine!'"
I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get.'
And Cornelius said, "{Four days ago at this hour}, [the] ninth, I was praying in my house. And behold, a man in shining clothing stood before me
And [while] they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
And [when they] had appointed elders for them in every church, [after] praying with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
in beatings, in prisons, in disturbances, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in going hungry,
with toil and hardship, often in sleepless nights, with hunger and thirst, often going hungry, in cold and poorly clothed.
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
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and he went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
And all the {Israelites} and all the troops went up and came to Bethel and wept; and they sat there before Yahweh and fasted on that day until evening; and they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Yahweh.
David pleaded [with] God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.
So he got up, ate, drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights up to Horeb, the mountain of God.
gather [the] people, consecrate [the] assembly; assemble [the] elders, gather [the] children, even those [who are] breast-feeding; let [the] bridegroom come out from his private room, and [the] bride from her canopy.
And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth--from the greatest of them {to the least important}. And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and removed his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
and [after he] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.
"Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full!
So he said to them, "You are not able to make the {bridegroom's attendants} fast as long as the bridegroom is with them, [are you]? But days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."