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 the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at 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 and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and in sackcloth, and earth upon their heads.
You came down also 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 for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which 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 returned into my own bosom.
Therefore go you, and read in the scroll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return everyone 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 in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch 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 entrance of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.
I ate no pleasant food, neither came meat nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land 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 thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great and strong people; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, through the years of many generations. 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 nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be in great pain: all faces are drained of color. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march each one on his way, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one jostle another; they shall walk each one in his path: and when they lunge between the swords, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in 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 them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can endure it? Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And tear your hearts, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and relents from sending calamity. Who knows if he will return and have pity, and leave a blessing behind him; even a grain offering and a drink offering unto the 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 the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev; 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 who were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself, as I have done these so many years? Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto me, even to me? And when you did eat, and when you did drink, did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should you not hear the words which the LORD has cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, when men inhabited the south and the lowland?
Thus says the 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 the truth and peace.
Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples fast not?
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they came and said unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples fast not?
And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but you eat and drink?
I fast twice in the week, 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,