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 break it.
And they were gathered to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.
And it happened when Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth and walked softly.
And in the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel were gathered with fasting and with sackcloth, and with earth upon them.
And You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from Heaven, and gave them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments.
Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. My maidservants and I will also fast in the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish.
But when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fastings; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.
Therefore you go, and read in the roll which you have written from my mouth, the Words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house on the fasting day. And also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. It may be they will present their prayer before Jehovah, and will return, each one from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah has spoken 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 Jehovah in Jehovah's house. And it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. And Baruch read in the book, the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entrance to the New Gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people.
I ate no food for delight, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.
Blow a ram's horn in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah 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 on the mountains; a great people and a strong people; there has not been ever the like, nor shall there ever be again, even to 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. Yes, and nothing shall escape them. As the appearance of horses is its appearance; and as war horses, so they run. They shall leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle order. Before their face the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty ones. 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. And each one shall not press his brother; they each go in his paths. And if they fall behind their weapons, they shall not be cut off. They shall rush on the city; they shall run on the wall; they shall climb up on the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall tremble before them; the heavens shall shake. The sun and the moon shall grow dark, and the stars shall gather in their light. And Jehovah shall utter His voice before His army; for His camp is very great; for strong is He who does His Word. For the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can stand it? Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to Jehovah your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil. Who knows if He will turn and have pity and leave a blessing behind Him, a food offering and a drink offering to Jehovah your God? Blow a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn gathering.
And it happened in the fourth year of King Darius, the Word of Jehovah came to Zechariah in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chislev. And Sherezer and Regem-melech and his men had been sent to the house of God, to seek the favor of Jehovah, read more. to speak to the priests who belong to the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, consecrating myself, as I have done these many years? And came the Word of Jehovah of Hosts to me, saying, Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me? And when you ate, and when you drank, was it not for you the eaters, and for you, the drinkers? Are not these the Words which Jehovah proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited, and prosperous, and her cities all around her, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?
So says Jehovah 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 for joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
Then the disciples of John came to Him saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?
The disciples of John and those of the Pharisees were fasting. And they came and said to Him, Why do John's disciples and those of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?
And they said to Him, Why do John's disciples fast often and make prayers, and also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?
I fast twice on the 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.