Fast, Fasting
Fast, Fasting
fast, fasting (, cum; , innah nephesh, afflict soul or self, i.e. practice self-denial; , nestea, , nesteuein): It is necessary to get rid of some modern notions associated with fasting before we can form a correct idea of its origin and significance in the ancient world. For instance, in the case of many ailments the dieting of the patient is an essential part of the remedy. But we may readily assume that originally fasting was not based on the salutary influence which it exercised on the health of the subject. Considerations of therapeutics played no part in the institution. The theory that fasting, like many other ancient customs, had a religious origin, is in favor with scholars, but we must not assume a religious origin for all practices which in process of time came to be associated with religion.
Many customs, purely secular in their origin, have gradually obtained a religious significance, just as purely religious customs have been dissociated from religion. It is also possible and, in the light of some usages, probable, that different motives operated in the association of fasting, as of some other customs, with religion. Scholars have been too ready to assume that the original significance of fasting was the same in all countries and among all nations. Robertson Smith in his Religion of the Semites advanced and defended theory that fasting was merely a mode of preparation for the tribal meal in which sacrifice originated, and came to be considered at a later stage as part of the sacrificial act. This hypothesis apparently accounts for the otherwise strange fact that both fasting and feasting are religious acts, but it does not give a satisfactory explanation of the constant association of fasting with the wearing of sackcloth, the putting of ashes on the head, and other similar customs. It is obvious that very different motives operated in the institution of fasting and of feasting religious observances.
It is a matter of common observation and experience that great distress causes loss of appetite and therefore occasions abstinence from food. Hannah, who was greatly distressed on account of her childlessness, wept, and did not eat (1Sa 1:7). Violent anger produces the same effect (1Sa 20:34). According to 1Ki 21:4, Ahab, heavy and displeased on account of Naboth’s refusal to part with his estate, sulked and would eat no bread. Fasting, originally the natural expression of grief, became the customary mode of proving to others the inner emotion of sorrow. David demonstrated his grief at Abner’s death (2Sa 3:35) by fasting, just as the Psalmist indicated his sympathy with his adversaries’ sorry plight in the same way (Psa 35:13). In such passages as Ezr 10:6; Est 4:3, it is not clear whether fasting is used in its religious significance or simply as a natural expression of sorrow (compare also Luk 5:33 and see below). This view explains the association of fasting with the mourning customs of antiquity (compare 1Sa 31:13; 2Sa 1:12). As fasting was a perfectly natural and human expression and evidence of the subject’s grief, it readily claimed a place among those religious customs whose main object was the pacification of the anger of God, or the excital of His compassion. Any and every act that would manifest the distressful state of the suppliant would appeal to the Deity and move Him to pity. The interesting incident recorded in 2Sa 12:16-23 suggests the twofold significance of fasting as a religious act or a mode of appealing to the Deity and as a funeral custom. David defends his fasting before and not after the child’s death on the ground that while the child was alive David’s prayer might be answered. His fasting was intended to make his petition effectual (compare also 1Ki 21:27; Ezr 8:21; Est 4:16). Occasionally fasting was proclaimed on a national scale, e.g. in case of war (Jdg 20:26; 2Ch 20:3) or of pestilence (Joe 1:13 f). Fasting having thus become a recognized mode of seeking Divine favor and protection, it was natural that it should be associated with confession of sin, as indisputable evidence of penitence or sorrow for sin.
Fasting might be partial, i.e. abstinence from certain kinds of food, or total, i.e. abstinence from all food as well as from washing, anointing, sleeping. It might be of shorter or longer duration, e.g. for one day, from sunrise to sunset (Jdg 20:26; 1Sa 14:24; 2Sa 1:12; 2Sa 3:35). In 1Sa 31:13 allusion is made to a seven days’ fast, while Daniel abstained from pleasant bread, flesh, wine and anointing for three weeks (Dan 10:3). Moses (Exo 34:28) and Elijah (1Ki 19:8) fasted for 40 days. It is probable that these last three references presuppose a totally different conception of the significance of fasting. It is obvious that dreams made a deep impression on primitive man. They were communications from the departed members of the family. At a later stage they were looked upon as revelations from God. During sleep there is total abstinence from food. It was easy to draw the inference that fasting might fit the person to receive these communications from the world of spirits (Dan 10:2). The close connection between fasting and insight – intellectual and spiritual – between simple living and high thinking is universally recognized. See further under ABSTINENCE; FEASTS AND FASTS.
Literature
Nowack, Hebrische Archologie; Benzinger, Hebrische Archologie; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Fast, Fasting
The first fasting we read of is when Moses went up into the mount to receive the tables of the covenant, and was there apart from nature with the Lord for forty days and nights. Deu 10:10. The first national fasting was when Israel was smitten before Benjamin: they “came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.” Jdg 20:26. Here, as in other places, it is connected with humbling; but in the case of Elijah, as with Moses, it signifies being apart from the ordinary life of flesh, to be with the Lord. 1Ki 19:8. Jehoshaphat, when the children of Moab and of Ammon came against him, proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah, and asked help of the Lord. 2Ch 20:3. When Nineveh was threatened with destruction the king humbled himself, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth: every one was to cry mightily to God, and put away his evil. Jon 3:5. The only fast enjoined by the law was the one connected with the Day of Atonement. The word ‘fasting’ does not occur there, but it is held to be included in the injunction ‘afflict your souls.’ This seems to be confirmed by ‘the fast’ mentioned in Act 27:9, for the tenth of Tisri would answer to the time of the equinoctial gales, when it was dangerous to sail in the Mediterranean.
Later on we read of four fasts being kept, Zec 7:5; Zec 8:19, though we have no record of their having been instituted by God.
1. In the fourth month, corresponding to the ‘breaking up’ of Jerusalem, when there was no bread for the people. Jer 52:6.
2. In the fifth month, in memory of the destruction of the Temple. 2Ki 25:8-9.
3. In the seventh month, in memory of the murder of Gedaliah. Jer 41:1-2.
4. In the tenth month, in memory of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem. Jer 52:4. The prophet could say that these fasts should be turned into joy and gladness.
In the N.T. we find in John the Baptist the spirit of fasting, a Nazarite spirit of separation. Mat 3:4. He also taught his disciples to fast. The Lord said of His disciples that when He was taken away, then they would fast; and while He was here He spoke of a certain power over unclean spirits that could only be exercised with prayer and fasting. Mat 17:21. He Himself when led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, fasted forty days and forty nights. It is a contrast to Moses and Elijah, they were apart from man’s natural condition to be with God; and He who as man was ever with God was so apart to be in conflict with the devil.
Paul and Barnabas were sent on their first missionary journey after prayer and fasting. Act 13:2-3. It is to be feared that because many have made fasting compulsory, and attached a superstitious merit to it, other Christians have altogether neglected the uniting of fasting with prayer. An habitual self-denial is doubtless the spirit of fasting rather than mere occasional abstinence from food.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Fast, Fasting
“a fasting, fast” (from ne, a negative prefix, and esthio, “to eat”), is used (a) of voluntary abstinence from food, Luk 2:37; Act 14:23 (some mss. have it in Mat 17:21; Mar 9:29); “fasting” had become a common practice among Jews, and was continued among Christians; in Act 27:9 “the Fast” refers to the Day of Atonement, Lev 16:29; that time of the year would be one of dangerous sailing; (b) of involuntary abstinence (perhaps voluntary is included), consequent upon trying circumstances, 2Co 6:5; 2Co 11:27.
“not eating” (see No. 1), “fasting,” is used of lack of food, Mat 15:32; Mar 8:3.
Note: Asitia, Act 27:21, means “without food” (not through lack of supplies), i.e., abstinence from food. See ABSTINENCE, and cp. C, below.
“to fast, to abstain from eating” (akin to A, Nos. 1 and 2), is used of voluntary “fasting,” Mat 4:2; Mat 6:16-18; Mat 9:14-15; Mar 2:18-20; Luk 5:33-35; Luk 18:12; Act 13:2-3. Some of these passages show that teachers to whom scholars or disciples were attached gave them special instructions as to “fasting.” Christ taught the need of purity and simplicity of motive.
The answers of Christ to the questions of the disciples of John and of the Pharisees reveal His whole purpose and method. No doubt He and His followers observed such a fast as that on the Day of Atonement, but He imposed no frequent “fasts” in addition. What He taught was suitable to the change of character and purpose which He designed for His disciples. His claim to be the Bridegroom, Mat 9:15, and the reference there to the absence of “fasting,” virtually involved a claim to be the Messiah (cp. Zec 8:19). Some mss. have the verb in Act 10:30.
“without food” (a, negative, sitos, “corn, food”), is used in Act 27:33, “fasting.” Cp. asitia, Note under A, No. 2.