FASTS, FASTING (fasts, faseing), (Heb. tsoom,to cover the mouth; Gr. vnareim,, nace-troo'o, to abstain), has, in all ages and among all nations, been practiced in times of mourning, sorrow and affliction.
It is in some sort inspired by nature, which, under these circumstances, refuses nourishment, and suspends the cravings of hunger. We see no example of fasting, properly so called, before Moses; whether the patriarchs had not observed it, which yet is difficult to believe, since there were great mournings among them, which are par ticularly described, as that of Abraham for Sarah, and that of Jacob for Joseph, or whether he did not think it necessary to mention it expressly, is uncertain.
(1) Among the Israelites. It appears by the law that devotional fasts for expiation of sins were common among the Israelites. There seems, however, no reason to doubt that `to. afflict the soul' bore with it the meaning of fasting. To. a mere English reader the phrase seems to comprie all kinds of voluntary mortifications, but 'soul' in Hebrew not seldom denotes the 'appetite' (Prov. xxvii :7). Accordingly the words regard Imme diately abstinence from food, and most probably (so far as they go) nothing more.
The sole fast required by Moses was on the great day of annual atonement. This observance seems always to have retained some prominence as 'the fast' (Acts xxvii :9), but what the ob servance of the enjoined duty involved we are no where expressly informed.
(2) Other General Fasts. Other general fasts, however, were in course of ages introduced, which were celebrated at fixed times every successive year. In the reign of Zedekiah, Nebuchadnezzar besieged and captured Jerusalem, which calamity led to the establishment of a fast on the seven teenth day of the fourth month (Thammuz, July) (Jer. 1ii :6, 7; Zech. viii :i9). In the last passage other fasts are enumerated, namely, 'the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth.' That of the fifth month (Ab, Au gust) was held on the ninth day, in mournful commemoration of the burning of the city by Ne buzar-adan, a servant of the king of Babylon, who 'burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house' (2 Kings xxv:8, sq.; Jer. lii; 12; Zech. vii :3-5; viii :19). The fast of the sev enth month (Tishri, October) was established to bewail the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jer.
xli:1, sq.; 2 Kings xxv:25). That of the tenth month (Tebeth, January) was held on the tenth day to commemorate the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem on the part of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxv :1; Zech. viii:19; see also Hieron. ad. Zech. c. viii., and Hieros. Taanith, 68; Re land, p. 471).
(3) Particular Occasions. On particular and signal occasions extraordinary fasts were ap pointed. Thus when Naboth was condemned for blasphemy because he would not give up the in heritance of his fathers to Ahab, Jezebel, as a part of her plan for gratifying the evil desires of her royal husband, ordered a fast to be proclaimed (i Kings xxi :9; comp. Jer. xxxvi :9; 2 Chron. xx:3). So in Judges xx :26, the children of Israel 'came unto the house of God and wept, and sat there before the Lord and fasted until even, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord,' when they had suffered a calamitous defeat at the hands of the Benjamites. Other instances of fasting on occasion of loss in battle may be found in I Sam. xxxi:i i-i3; Baruch i :5. In Joel i-ii a fast is enjoined with a view to turn away the wrath of God as displayed in the terrible consequences of the invasion of the land of Judxa by an army of devastating locusts (Credner's Joel). The idea also prevailed that a special fast might have the effect of averting the divine displeasure and securing the divine co operation in any great undertaking (Jonah iii:5; Sam. vii :5, 6, 8, 10, 12 ; I MaCC. Hi :47; 2 DrIaCC. Xiii :12; Judith iv Ai ; vi:t9). Local fasts were at a later period sometimes held in order to avert calamity or procure a favor from heaven; and the Sanhedrim ordered general fasts when the nation was threatened with pny great evil, such as drought or famine (Joseph. Vit. sec. 56; Taanith, i :5), as was usual with the Romans in their sup plications (Liv. iii :7 ; x :23 ; Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiq.) (4) Private Fasts. There were also private fasts, though the Mosaic law did not require them. They were held in connection with individual or family incidents, and agreed in aim and tendency with fasts of a general and public nature. Ex amples may be found in I Sam. i:7; xx:34; Kings xxi :9; Ezra x :6; i :4.