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 on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the tablets of the promise that Jehovah made to you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights without food or water.
The people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in Jehovah's presence and fasted until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole in the presence of Jehovah.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies.
In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in Jehovah's presence.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. I ate no pleasant bread; neither flesh nor wine entered my mouth. I did not anoint myself at all until three whole weeks were completed.
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
He fasted forty days and nights, and was very hungry.
When you abstain from food, do not be like the hypocrites, with sad faces to be seen by men. They have received their reward. Anoint your head and wash your face. read more. That way, men may not see that you are fasting. Your Father knows in secret and will reward you.
Jesus replied: Could you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come and when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.
After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away.
We walk by faith, not by sight.
In weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting 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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.
Rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
The following regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work. On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean. read more. That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come.
The tenth day of this seventh month is a special day for the payment for sins. There will be a holy assembly. Humble yourselves, and bring Jehovah a sacrifice by fire.
Your children will be shepherds in the desert for forty years. They will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies dead in the desert.
A husband decides whether or not his wife has to keep any vow to do something or any oath to do without something.
Jehovah's anger blazed against the Israelites. Therefore he made them wander in the desert for forty years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in Jehovah's presence was gone. You are just like your parents! You are a bunch of sinners trying to make Jehovah angry at Israel again.
Do not eat leavened bread with it. Eat unleavened bread for seven days. It is the bread of affliction. You should remember all the days of your life the day when you came out of the land of Egypt in haste.
He must not beat him more than forty lashes. If he beats more than that your brother will be degraded in your eyes.
The people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in Jehovah's presence and fasted until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole in the presence of Jehovah.
The Israelites gathered at Mizpah. They drew some water, poured it out in front of Jehovah and fasted that day. They confessed: We have sinned against Jehovah. So Samuel judged Israel in Mizpah.
Jehoshaphat was frightened and decided to ask for Jehovah's help. He announced a fast throughout Judah.
Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the Ahava River, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a safe journey for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. I would not make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might attack us on the way. We said to the king: The hand (power) (protection) of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who have turned away from him. read more. So we went without food, requesting our God for this: and his ear was open to our prayer.
Then Ezra got up from before the house of God and went into the room of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib. When he arrived there, he took no food or drink, for he was sorrowing for the sin of those who had come back.
After I heard these words I sat down on the ground and cried for days. I ate no food and offered prayer to the God of heaven.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies.
Go assemble all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me. Take no food or drink night or day for three days. My women and I will do the same. Then I will go in to the king even though it is against the law. If death is to be my fate, then let it come.
I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart has melted within me like wax (I am weak).
Let them vanish as water that flows away. When they draw the bow, let their arrows be made blunt.
When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
For forty years I was grieved with this generation. I said: It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.
You fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed (rush) and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah? read more. Is this not the fast I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, should you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
On a day of fasting, you must read from the scroll Jehovah's message that you wrote as I dictated. You must read it to the people in Jehovah's Temple. You must also read it to all the people of Judah when they come from their cities. Maybe their prayers will come into Jehovah's presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. Jehovah has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury. read more. Baruch, son of Neriah, did as the prophet Jeremiah commanded him. In Jehovah's Temple he read from the scroll everything that Jehovah had said. In the ninth month of the fifth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah, a time for fasting was called. It was a time for all the people in Jerusalem and for everyone who was coming from any city in Judah to Jerusalem to fast in Jehovah's presence. Then Baruch read the scroll containing the words of Jeremiah. Baruch read it to all the people in Jehovah's temple in the room of the scribe Gemariah, son of Shaphan, in the upper courtyard at the entrance of New Gate of Jehovah's Temple.
On the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year as king, the city walls were broken through.
In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king's officers went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. They ate together at Mizpah. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him got up, drew their swords, and killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. So they assassinated the man whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the land. read more. Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah as well as the Babylonian soldiers that he found there.
On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls.
On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food. The enemy broke through the city walls, and all Judah's soldiers fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, they took the road to the plain of Jericho.
On the tenth day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned down Jehovah's Temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down. read more. The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.
After you have finished this lie down again. This time lie on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you forty days, a day for each year.
A man's foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years.
I ate no pleasant bread; neither flesh nor wine entered my mouth. I did not anoint myself at all until three whole weeks were completed.
Sanctify a fast! Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the House of Jehovah your God. Call out to Jehovah.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast and call a solemn assembly.
Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey walking, and he shouted: Nineveh will be overthrown in Forty days.
Therefore speak to the priests of the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and say to the prophets: Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these many years? Then came the word of Jehovah of Hosts to me: read more. Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: 'For the past seventy years did you fast for me when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months?
Jehovah of Hosts said: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month, will be to the house of Judah joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
You have said: 'There is no value to serve God. What is the use of doing what he says or of trying to show Jehovah of Hosts that we are sorry for what we have done?'
When you abstain from food, do not be like the hypocrites, with sad faces to be seen by men. They have received their reward.
The disciples of John asked: Why do your disciples not fast? They frequently fasted, and so did the Pharisees. Jesus replied: Should the wedding guests mourn and also celebrate with the groom? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.
Jesus replied: Should the wedding guests mourn and also celebrate with the groom? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.
(omitted, text not found in early manuscripts)
He replied: Only prayer will make this sort come out.
I fast twice per week. I give tithes of all that I get.
After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away.
When they had ordained elders in every congregation they prayed with fasting. They commended them to God, on whom they believed.
Much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous. Because the fast was over Paul admonished them,
He who regards the day regards it to God and he who does not regard the day does not regard it to God. He, who eats, eats to God, for he gives God thanks. He who does not eat does not eat to God and he gives God thanks.
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent for a time. That way you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. Then come together again, that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
But food will not recommend us to God. If we do not eat we are not worse. If we eat we are not better.
Let no man rob you of your prize by a self-abasement and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things that he has seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, grows with the growth from God. read more. If you died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances: Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. These are the precepts and doctrines of men. These have, indeed, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body. But these are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
They will forbid marrying, [and command] to abstain from food, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Hastings
FASTING
1. In the OT.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The following regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work.
The following regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come. On the tenth day of the seventh month the Israelites and the foreigners living among them must fast and must not do any work. On that day the ritual is to be performed to purify them from all their sins, so that they will be ritually clean. read more. That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come.
That day is to be a very holy day, one on which they fast and do no work at all. These regulations are to be observed for a long lasting time to come.
The tenth day of this seventh month is a special day for the payment for sins. There will be a holy assembly. Humble yourselves, and bring Jehovah a sacrifice by fire.
It is a day of worship (sabbath), a day when you do not work. Humble yourselves starting on the evening of the ninth day of the month. From that evening to the next, observe the day of worship.
It is a day of worship (sabbath), a day when you do not work. Humble yourselves starting on the evening of the ninth day of the month. From that evening to the next, observe the day of worship.
Call a holy assembly on the tenth day of the seventh month. Humble yourselves do no work.
Call a holy assembly on the tenth day of the seventh month. Humble yourselves do no work.
A husband decides whether or not his wife has to keep any vow to do something or any oath to do without something.
The people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in Jehovah's presence and fasted until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole in the presence of Jehovah.
They buried the bones under a small tree in Jabesh. Then for seven days, they went without eating to show their sorrow.
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and lay on the ground all night.
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and lay on the ground all night. The elders in his palace stood beside him to raise him up from the ground. But he was unwilling and he would not eat with them.
Now in the ninth year of his rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with all his army. He took his position and laid siege to it. They built earthworks all round the town.
It was the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
Then I gave orders for a time of going without food, there by the Ahava River, so that we might make ourselves low before our God in prayer, requesting from him a safe journey for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. I would not make request to the king for a band of armed men and horsemen to give us help against those who might attack us on the way. We said to the king: The hand (power) (protection) of our God is on his servants for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who have turned away from him. read more. So we went without food, requesting our God for this: and his ear was open to our prayer.
After I heard these words I sat down on the ground and cried for days. I ate no food and offered prayer to the God of heaven.
After I heard these words I sat down on the ground and cried for days. I ate no food and offered prayer to the God of heaven. I said: O Jehovah (YHWH), the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be respected, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws: read more. Let your ear now take note and let your eyes be open. Please give ear to the prayer of your servant. At this time, day and night I pray for the children of Israel, your servants. I put before you the sins of the children of Israel that we have done against you: truly, my father's people and I are sinners. We have done great wrong against you. We have not obeyed the orders, the rules, and the decisions, which you gave to your servant Moses. Keep in mind, O Jehovah, the order you gave your servant Moses, saying: 'If you do wrong I will send you wandering among the peoples: If you come back to me and obey my orders, even if you have been forced out and are living in the farthest horizons, I will gather you from there, and bring you to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.' These are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand. O Jehovah, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant. Of the prayers of all your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Jehovah, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. Now I was the king's wine-servant.
The priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, some of the people and the Nethinim, and all Israel, were living in their towns. When the seventh months arrived, the sons of Israel were then in their cities.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies.
For a fourth part of the day, upright in their places, they read from the book of the Law of their God. For a fourth part of the day they requested forgiveness and worshipped Jehovah their God.
And because of all this we are making an agreement in good faith, and putting it in writing. Our rulers, our Levites, and our priests are putting their names to it.
But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting. My prayer returned unanswered.
Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast you find desire, and mistreat all your workers.'
Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed (rush) and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?
On the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah's eleventh year as king, the city walls were broken through.
In the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the royal family and of the king's officers went with ten men to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. They ate together at Mizpah.
On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls.
On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.
On the tenth day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
I looked to Jehovah God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes. He made proclamation and published it in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not eat, nor drink water.
Therefore speak to the priests of the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and say to the prophets: Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these many years? Then came the word of Jehovah of Hosts to me: read more. Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: 'For the past seventy years did you fast for me when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months?
Jehovah of Hosts said: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month, will be to the house of Judah joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
Jehovah of Hosts said: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month, will be to the house of Judah joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
When you abstain from food, do not be like the hypocrites, with sad faces to be seen by men. They have received their reward. Anoint your head and wash your face. read more. That way, men may not see that you are fasting. Your Father knows in secret and will reward you.
The disciples of John asked: Why do your disciples not fast? They frequently fasted, and so did the Pharisees. Jesus replied: Should the wedding guests mourn and also celebrate with the groom? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast. read more. Why patch an old garment with cloth that has not been shrunk? The patch shrinks and pulls away from the old cloth leaving a big hole. Neither do men put new wine in old wineskins. The skins burst and the wine is lost. They put new wine in fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
(omitted, text not found in early manuscripts)
John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. They came to him and asked: Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not? Jesus replied: Will the friends of a newly married man practice fasting while he is with them? As long as they have him with them they will not go without food. read more. But the days will come when the husband will be taken away from them. Then they will fast. No man puts a patch of new cloth on an old coat. The new, by pulling away from the old, makes a worse hole. No man puts new wine into old wineskins. The skins will burst and the wine and the skins will be wasted. New wine has to be put into new wine skins.
He replied: Only prayer will make this sort come out.
They said: The disciples of John fast often and make supplications. So do the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours eat and drink. Jesus replied: Could you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? read more. The days will come and when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast. He told an illustration to them: No one takes a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise he will tear the new. Also the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine in old wine skins. The new wine will burst the old skins and spill the wine. But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins. After drinking old wine no one desires the new for the old is better.
I fast twice per week. I give tithes of all that I get.
Cornelius replied, Four days ago I was praying at this hour. It was the ninth hour and I prayed in my house. A man dressed in bright clothing stood before me.
As they ministered to God, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: Set Barnabas and Saul apart for the work I have called them.
When they had ordained elders in every congregation they prayed with fasting. They commended them to God, on whom they believed.
in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fasting;
In weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting 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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Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain. He was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
And Joshua ripped his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the Ark of Jehovah until evening. He threw dust on his head. The elders of Israel did the same.
The people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in Jehovah's presence and fasted until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burned some sacrifices whole in the presence of Jehovah.
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and lay on the ground all night.
So he got up and took food and drink. He was strengthened to go for forty days and forty nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
The people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.
He fasted forty days and nights, and was very hungry.
When you abstain from food, do not be like the hypocrites, with sad faces to be seen by men. They have received their reward.
Jesus replied: Could you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come and when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast.