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 in Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and slept 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 didst come down upon Mount Sinai and didst speak with them from heaven and didst give them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so I will go in unto the king, even though this is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer rose up in my bosom.
therefore go thou, and read from the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD's house upon the day of fasting: and also in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. Thou shalt read them if peradventure their prayer will fall into the presence of the LORD, and they shall turn each one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the fury that the 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 the LORD in the LORD's house. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people of Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither did flesh nor wine come into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all until the three weeks of days were fulfilled.
Blow the shofar in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble for the day of the LORD comes, for it is near at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of shadow that spreads itself upon the mountains as the dawn: a people great and strong; there has not ever been the like, neither shall there be any more after him, even to the years of many generations. read more. A fire devours before him and behind him a flame burns: the earth is as the garden of Eden before him, and behind him a desolate wilderness; neither shall anyone escape him. His appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the thunder of chariots they shall leap over the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before him the peoples shall fear: all faces shall go pale. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war, and they shall march each one in his ways, and they shall not break his ranks. No one shall crowd his companion; they shall walk each one in his path: and even falling upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall go through the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before him; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall go dark; and the stars shall withdraw their shining: and the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for many are his camps and strong, that execute his word; for the day of the LORD is great, and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in mercy, and he does repent of chastisement. Who knows if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him even a present and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the shofar 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 the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu; when they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regemmelech and their men, to pray before the LORD read more. and to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the LORD of the hosts and to the prophets, saying, Should we weep in the fifth month? Should we do abstinence as we have done these so many years? Then the word of the LORD of the hosts came unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye ate, and when ye drank, did ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Are these not the words which the LORD has published by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and quiet and the cities thereof round about her and when the south and the plain were inhabited?
Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said, 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 the truth and peace.
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples do not fast?
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees did fast and therefore came and said unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?
Then they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink?
I fast two meals every sabbath; I give tithes of all that I possess.
And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing