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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after that I was gone up into the mount, to fetch the tables of stone, the tables of covenant which the LORD made with you. And I abode in the hill forty days and forty nights and neither ate bread nor drank water.
Then the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD, and fasted the same day unto evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
In the four and twentieth day of this month came the children of Israel together with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them,
And this was done in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, when it was commanded that all the people of Jerusalem should fast before the LORD, and they also that were come from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.
At the same time, I, Daniel, mourned for the space of three weeks, so that I had no lust to eat bread: as for flesh and wine, there came none within my mouth: No, I did not once anoint myself, till the whole three weeks were out.
Gather the people together; bring the elders to one place; gather the young children and they that suck the breasts, together. Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber and the bride out of her parlour.
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed fasting, and arrayed themselves in sackcloth, as well the great as the small of them.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, read more. that it appear not unto men how that thou fastest, but unto thy father which is in secret: and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
And he said unto them, "Can ye make the Children of the wedding fast, as long as the bridegroom is present with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: then shall they fast in those days."
Then fasted they and prayed, and put their hands on them, and let them go.
For we walk in faith and see not.
in labour and travail, in watching often, in hunger, in thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in 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 seven days hence will I send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights and will destroy all manner of things that I have made, from off the face of the earth."
and there fell a rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
"And it shall be an ordinance forever unto you. And even in the tenth day of the seventh month, ye shall humble your souls and shall do no work at all: whether it be one of yourselves or a stranger that sojourneth among you, for that day shall an atonement be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the LORD, and ye shall be clean. read more. It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall humble your souls, and it shall be an ordinance forever.
"Also the tenth day of the self seventh month, is a day of atonement, and shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and offer sacrifice unto the LORD.
And your children shall wander in this wilderness forty years and suffer for your whoredom until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness,
"All vows and oaths that bind to humble the soul, may her husband establish or break.
And the LORD was angry with Israel, and made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD were consumed. "And behold, ye are risen up in your father's stead, the increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce wrath of the LORD to Israelward.
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread therewith: but shalt eat therewith the bread of tribulation seven days long. For thou camest out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest out of the land of Egypt, all days of thy life.
Forty stripes he shall give him and not pass: lest if he should exceed and beat him above that with many stripes, thy brother should appear ungodly before thine eyes.
Then the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD, and fasted the same day unto evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted the same day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the causes of the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed fasting throughout all Judah.
And even there at the water beside Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our children and all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king, soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had said unto the king, "The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness, and his violence and wrath is upon all them that forsake him." read more. So we fasted, and besought our God for this; and he heard us.
And Ezra stood up before the house of God, and went in to the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he ate no bread, nor drank water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been in captivity.
When I heard these words, I sat me down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
In the four and twentieth day of this month came the children of Israel together with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them,
'Go thou thy way then, and gather together all the Jews that are found at Susa, and fast ye for me, that ye eat not and drink not in three days, neither day nor night. I and my damsels will fast likewise, and so will I go in to the king contrary to the commandment: if I perish, I perish.'"
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax.
Let them fall away like water that runneth a pace; and when they shoot their arrows, let them be rooted out.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, and said, "They ever err in their hearts, they verily have not known my ways."
Behold when ye fast, ye can find your own lusts, and can call cruelly on all your debtors. Ye fast to law and strive and to smite with fist wickedly. Fast not as ye now do, to make your voice to be heard upon high. Should it be such a manner of fast that I should chose? A day that a man should hurt his soul in? Or to bow down his head like a bulrush? Or to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Shouldest thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable unto the LORD? read more. Or is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? To loose wicked bonds, and to unbind bundles of oppression? And to let the bruised go free? And that ye should break all manner yokes? Yea, and to break the bread to the hungry; and to bring the poor that are harborless unto house; and when thou seest a naked, that thou clothe him and that thou shouldest withdraw thyself from helping thine own flesh?
therefore go thou thither, and read the book, that thou hast written at my mouth: Namely, the words of the LORD, and read them in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: that the people, whole Judah, and all they that come out of the cities, may hear. Peradventure they will pray meekly before the face of LORD, and turn, every one from his wicked way. For great is the wrath and displeasure, that the LORD hath taken against this people." read more. So Baruch the son of Neriah did, according unto all that Jeremiah the Prophet commanded him, reading the words of the LORD out of the book in the LORD's house. And this was done in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, when it was commanded that all the people of Jerusalem should fast before the LORD, and they also that were come from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah out of the book within the house of the LORD, out of the treasury of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the Scribe, which is beside the higher loft of the new door of the LORD's house: that all the people might hear.
and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in the fourth Month the ninth day of that Month, he brake in to the city -
But in the seventh Month it happened, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, one of the king's blood, came with them that were greatest about the king, and ten men that were sworn with him: unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizphah, and ate there together. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, with those ten men that were sworn to him, start up, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword; and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor of the land. read more. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with Gedaliah at Mizphah, and all the Chaldeans that he found there waiting upon him.
But in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth Month, the tenth day of the Month, it happened that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his Host, came before Jerusalem: and besieged it, and made them bulwarks round about it.
And in the fourth Month, the ninth day of the Month, there was so great hunger in the city that there were no more victuals for the people of the land. So all the soldiers brake away, and fled out of the city by night through the way of the port between the two walls by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans had compassed the city round about; yet went these men their way toward the wilderness.
Now the tenth day of the fifth Month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief captain and the king of Babylon's servants came unto Jerusalem, and burnt up the house of the LORD. He burnt up also the king's palace, all the houses, and all the gorgeous buildings in Jerusalem. read more. And the whole Host of the Chaldeans that were with the chief Captain brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
When thou hast fulfilled these days, lie down again, and sleep upon thy right side forty days, and bear the sins of the house of Judah. A day for a year; a day, I say, for a year will I ever lay upon thee.
so that in forty years there shall no foot of man walk there, neither foot of cattle go there, neither shall it be inhabited.
so that I had no lust to eat bread: as for flesh and wine, there came none within my mouth: No, I did not once anoint myself, till the whole three weeks were out.
Proclaim a fasting, call the congregation, gather the elders and all the inhabiters of the land together in to the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
And Jonah went to and entered into the city even a day's journey, and cried, saying, "There shall not pass forty days but Nineveh shall be overthrown."
and that they should say unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of Hosts, and to the prophets, "Should I weep in the fifth month, and abstain, as I have done now certain years?" Then came the word of the LORD of Hosts unto me, saying, read more. "Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, now this seventy years, did ye fast unto me?
"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and prosperous high feasts unto the house of Judah: Only, love the truth and peace.
Ye have said, 'It is but lost labour, to serve God: What profit have we for keeping his commandments, and for walking humbly before the LORD of Hosts?
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Then came the disciples of John to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" And Jesus said unto them, "Can the wedding children mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
And Jesus said unto them, "Can the wedding children mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
And he said unto them, "This kind can by no other means come forth, but by prayer and fasting."
I fast twice in the week. I give tithe of all that I possess.'
Then fasted they and prayed, and put their hands on them, and let them go.
And when they had ordained them elders by election in every congregation, after they had prayed and fasted, they commended them to God on whom they believed.
When much time was spent and sailing was now jeopardous, because also that we had overlong fasted, Paul put them in remembrance,
He that observeth one day more than another, doth it for the Lord's pleasure. And he that observeth not one day more than another, doth it to please the Lord, also. He that eateth, doth it to please the lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, eateth not to please the Lord withal, and giveth God thanks.
Withdraw not yourselves one from another except it be with consent for a time, for to give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and afterward come again to the same thing, lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency.
Meat maketh us not acceptable to God: Neither if we eat are we the better: Neither if we eat not are we the worse.
Let no man make you shoot at a wrong mark, which after his own imagination walketh in the humbleness and holiness of angels, things which he never saw: causeless, puffed up with his fleshly mind, and holdeth not the head: whereof all the body by joints and couples receiveth nourishment, and is knit together, and increaseth with the increasing that cometh of God. read more. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from ordinances of the world: Why as though ye yet lived in the world, are ye led with traditions of them that say "Touch not; Taste not; Handle not:" which all perish with the using of them, and are after the commandments, and doctrines of men: which things have the similitude of wisdom in chosen holiness, and humbleness, and in that they spare not the body - and do the flesh no worship unto his need.
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with giving thanks, of them which believe, and know the truth.
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
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"And it shall be an ordinance forever unto you. And even in the tenth day of the seventh month, ye shall humble your souls and shall do no work at all: whether it be one of yourselves or a stranger that sojourneth among you,
"And it shall be an ordinance forever unto you. And even in the tenth day of the seventh month, ye shall humble your souls and shall do no work at all: whether it be one of yourselves or a stranger that sojourneth among you, for that day shall an atonement be made for you to cleanse you from all your sins before the LORD, and ye shall be clean. read more. It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall humble your souls, and it shall be an ordinance forever.
It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall humble your souls, and it shall be an ordinance forever.
"Also the tenth day of the self seventh month, is a day of atonement, and shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and offer sacrifice unto the LORD.
A Sabbath of rest it shall be unto you, and ye shall humble your souls. The ninth day of the month at evening, and so forth from evening to evening again, ye shall keep your Sabbath."
A Sabbath of rest it shall be unto you, and ye shall humble your souls. The ninth day of the month at evening, and so forth from evening to evening again, ye shall keep your Sabbath."
And the tenth day of that same seventh month shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and shall do no manner work therein.
And the tenth day of that same seventh month shall be a holy feast unto you, and ye shall humble your souls and shall do no manner work therein.
"All vows and oaths that bind to humble the soul, may her husband establish or break.
Then the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD, and fasted the same day unto evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
and took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And David besought God for the boy and fasted and went and lay all night upon the earth.
And David besought God for the boy and fasted and went and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose and went to him to take him up from the earth. But he would not, neither yet eat meat with them.
Therefore, in the ninth year of his reign, the tenth day of the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon with all his power to Jerusalem: and pitched against the town and made engines against it on every side.
And the seventh day of the fifth month which was in the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan servant of the king of Babylon and chief Marshal, unto Jerusalem:
And even there at the water beside Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and our children and all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king, soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way. For we had said unto the king, "The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him in goodness, and his violence and wrath is upon all them that forsake him." read more. So we fasted, and besought our God for this; and he heard us.
When I heard these words, I sat me down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
When I heard these words, I sat me down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, "O LORD God of heaven, thou great and terrible God, thou that keepest covenant and mercy for them that love thee and observe thy commandments: read more. Let thine ears mark and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray now before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy servants, and knowledge the sins of the children of Israel, which we have committed against thee. And I and my father's house have sinned also. We have been corrupt unto thee, in that we have not kept the commandments, statutes, and laws which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Yet call to remembrance the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, and saidest, 'If ye transgress, then will I scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments and do them: though ye were cast out unto the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather you from thence, and will bring you from thence, even unto the place that I have chosen for my name to dwell there.' They are thy servants, and thy people whom thou hast delivered through thy great power and mighty hand. O LORD, let thine ears mark the prayer of thy servant, and the prayer of thy servants, whose desire is to fear thy name; and let thy servant prosper this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's butler."
And the priests and Levites, the Porters, the singers, and the other of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities."
In the four and twentieth day of this month came the children of Israel together with fasting, and sackcloth, and earth upon them,
and they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God four times on the day; and they acknowledged, and worshipped the LORD their God four times on the day.
And in all this make we a sure covenant, and write it, and let our princes, Levites, and priests seal it."
Nevertheless, when they were sick, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
They seek of me righteous judgments, and will draw nigh unto God. Why have we fasted and thou hast not looked upon it? Have humbled our souls, and thou wouldest not wit it?
Should it be such a manner of fast that I should chose? A day that a man should hurt his soul in? Or to bow down his head like a bulrush? Or to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Shouldest thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable unto the LORD?
and in the eleventh year of Zedekiah in the fourth Month the ninth day of that Month, he brake in to the city -
But in the seventh Month it happened, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, one of the king's blood, came with them that were greatest about the king, and ten men that were sworn with him: unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizphah, and ate there together.
But in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth Month, the tenth day of the Month, it happened that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his Host, came before Jerusalem: and besieged it, and made them bulwarks round about it.
And in the fourth Month, the ninth day of the Month, there was so great hunger in the city that there were no more victuals for the people of the land.
Now the tenth day of the fifth Month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the chief captain and the king of Babylon's servants came unto Jerusalem,
and I turned me unto God the LORD, for to pray and make mine intercession, with fasting, sack cloth and ashes.
And the tidings came unto the king of Nineveh, which arose out of his seat, and did his apparel off and put on sackcloth, and sat him down in ashes. And it was cried and commanded in Nineveh by the authority of the king and of his lords, saying, "See that neither man or beast, ox or sheep taste ought at all, and that they neither feed or drink water."
and that they should say unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of Hosts, and to the prophets, "Should I weep in the fifth month, and abstain, as I have done now certain years?" Then came the word of the LORD of Hosts unto me, saying, read more. "Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, and say, 'When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, now this seventy years, did ye fast unto me?
"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and prosperous high feasts unto the house of Judah: Only, love the truth and peace.
"Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness, and prosperous high feasts unto the house of Judah: Only, love the truth and peace.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, read more. that it appear not unto men how that thou fastest, but unto thy father which is in secret: and thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Then came the disciples of John to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" And Jesus said unto them, "Can the wedding children mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. read more. No man pieceth an old garment with a piece of new cloth. For then taketh he away the piece again from the garment, and the rent is made greater. Neither do men put new wine into old vessels: for then the vessels break, and the wine runneth out, and the vessels perish: but they pour new wine into new vessels, and so are both saved together."
Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees did fast, and they therefore came and said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, and thy disciples fast not?" And Jesus said unto them, "Can the children of a wedding fast, while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. read more. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then shall they fast in those days. Also no man seweth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for then taketh he away the new piece from the old, and so is the rent worse. In like wise, no man poureth new wine into old vessels, for if he do, the new wine breaketh the vessels, and the wine runneth out, and the vessels are marred. But new wine must be poured into new vessels."
And he said unto them, "This kind can by no other means come forth, but by prayer and fasting."
Then they said unto him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and pray: and the disciples of the Pharisees also: and thine eat and drink?" And he said unto them, "Can ye make the Children of the wedding fast, as long as the bridegroom is present with them? read more. The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: then shall they fast in those days." Then he spake unto them in a similitude, "No man putteth a piece of a new garment, into an old vesture: for if he do, then breaketh he the new: and the piece that was taken out of the new, agreeth not with the old. Also no man poureth new wine into old vessels: for if he do, the new wine breaketh the vessels, and runneth out itself, and the vessels perish: But new wine must be poured into new vessels, and both are preserved. Also no man that drinketh old wine, straightway can away with new, for he sayeth: the old is pleasanter."
I fast twice in the week. I give tithe of all that I possess.'
And Cornelius said, "This day now four days I fasted, and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
As they ministered to the Lord and fasted; The holy ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them."
And when they had ordained them elders by election in every congregation, after they had prayed and fasted, they commended them to God on whom they believed.
in stripes, in prisonment, in strife, in labour, in watching, in fasting,
in labour and travail, in watching often, in hunger, in thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in 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 went into the mountain. And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, both he and the elders of Israel; and put earth upon their heads.
Then the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto Bethel, and wept and sat there before the LORD, and fasted the same day unto evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
And David besought God for the boy and fasted and went and lay all night upon the earth.
And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of God,
Gather the people together; bring the elders to one place; gather the young children and they that suck the breasts, together. Let the bridegroom come out of his chamber and the bride out of her parlour.
And the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed fasting, and arrayed themselves in sackcloth, as well the great as the small of them. And the tidings came unto the king of Nineveh, which arose out of his seat, and did his apparel off and put on sackcloth, and sat him down in ashes.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a hungered.
"Moreover, when ye fast, be not sad as the hypocrites are: for they disfigure their faces, that they might be seen of men how they fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
And he said unto them, "Can ye make the Children of the wedding fast, as long as the bridegroom is present with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: then shall they fast in those days."