Reference: Fasts
Smith
Fasts.
1. One fast only was appointed by the Mosaic law, that on the day of atonement. There is no mention of any other periodical fast in the Old Testament except in
From these passages it appears that the Jews, during their captivity, observed four annual fasts, --in the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months.
2. Public fasts were occasionally proclaimed to express national humiliation and to supplicate divine favor. In the case of public danger the proclamation appears to have been accompanied with the blowing of trumpets.
(See
1Sa 7:6; 2Ch 20:3; Jer 36:6-10
) Three days after the feast of tabernacles, when the second temple was completed, "the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes and earth upon them," to hear the law read and to confess their sins.
3. Private occasional fasts are recognized in one passage of the law --
The instances given of individuals fasting under the influence of grief, vexation or anxiety are numerous.
4. In the New Testament the only reference to the Jewish fasts are the mention of "the fast" in
(generally understood to denote the day of atonement) an the allusions to the weekly fasts.
Mt 9:14; Mr 2:18; Lu 5:33; 18:12; Ac 10:30
These fasts originated some time after the captivity.
5. The Jewish fasts were observed with various degrees of strictness. Sometimes there was entire abstinence from food.
etc. On other occasions there appears to have been only a restriction to a very plain diet.
Those who fasted frequently dressed in sackcloth or rent their clothes, put ashes on their head and went barefoot.
6. The sacrifice of the personal will, which gives to fasting all its value, is expressed in the old term used in the law, afflicting the soul.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah.
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them.
Thou also came down upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and TRUE laws, good statutes and commandments,
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast in like manner. And so I will go in to the king, which is not acc
But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom.
Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou have written from my mouth, the words of LORD in the ears of the people in LORD's house upon the fast-day. And also thou shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of t It may be they will present their supplication before LORD, and will return each one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that LORD has pronounced against this people. read more. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of LORD in LORD's house. Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.
I ate no pleasant bread. Neither flesh nor wine came into my mouth. Neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of LORD comes, for it is near at hand, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spreads upon the mountains, a great people and a strong, there has not ever been the like, nor shall be any more after them, even to the years of man read more. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and none has escaped them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run. They leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces have grown pale. They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war, and they march each one on his ways. And they do not break their ranks. Neither does one push another. They march each one in his path, and they burst through the weapons, and do not break off. They leap upon the city. They run upon the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is very great. For he is strong who executes his word. For the day of LORD is great and very fearful, and who can abide it? Yet even now, says LORD, turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents of the evil. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering to LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly.
And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth [day] of the ninth month, even in Chislev. Now [those of] Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of LORD, read more. [and] to speak to the priests of the house of LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then the word of LORD of hosts came to me, saying, Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh [month], even these seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? [Should ye] not [hear] the words which LORD cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?
Thus says LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth [month], and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth
Then the disciples of John come to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but thy disciples fast not?
And John's disciples and those of the Pharisees were fasting. And they come and say to him, Why do John's disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, but the disciples with you do not fast?
And they said to him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make supplications, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink.
I fast twice per Sabbath. I tithe all things, as many as I acquire.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour, and the ninth hour praying in my house. And behold, a man stood before me in bright apparel.