After the exile private fasts became very fre quent (Lightfoot, p. 318), awaiting the call of no special occasion, but entering as a regular part of the current religious worship (Suet. Aug. 76; Tacit. Hist. v :4, 3).
The parable of the Pharisee and Publican (Luke xviii :0; comp. NIatt ix :14) shows how much the Pharisees were given to voluntary and private fasts-1 fast twice a week.' The first was on the fifth day of the week, on which Moses as scended to the top of Mount Sinai; the second was on the second day, on which he came down (Mandl,' ii:9; llieros. Megtllah, 75, 1). The Essenes and the Therapeutx also were much given to such observances (Philo, Vit. Contempt. p. 613; Euseb. Prep. Evan. ix:3).
Fasts were considered as a useful exercise in preparing the mind for special religious impres sions. Thus Dan. x:2, sq., 'In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks., I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold a certain man,' etc. (see also Acts xiii :3; xiv :23). From Matt. xvii:2I, 'Howbeit this kind (of demons) goeth not out but by prayer and fasting,' it would appear that the practice under consideration was considered in the days of Christ to act in certain special cases as an exor cism.
(5) Mourning. Fasting was accompanied by the ordinary signs of grief among the Israelites, as may be seen in Nlacc. iii :47, 'Then they fasted that day and put on sackcloth, and cast ashes upon their heads and rent their clothes.' The fast ordi narily lasted from evening to evening, but was not observed on the sabbath or on festival days (Jo seph. Antiq. iii:m, 3; Judith viii :6; Misehn. Taanith, :io) . The abstinence was either partial or total. In the case of the latter food was en tirely foregone, but this ordinarily took place only in fasts of short duration; and abstinence from food in eastern climes is more easy and less detrimental (if not in some cases positively use ful) than keeping from food would be with us in these cold, damp, northern regions (Esther iv :16). In the case of partial abstinence the time was longer, the denial in degree less. When Daniel
(x:2) was 'mourning three full weeks,' he ate no 'pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth.' (6) Duration. There does not appear to have been any fixed and recognized periods during which these fasts endured. From one day to forty days fasts were observed. The latter period appears to have been regarded with feelings of peculiar sanctity, owing doubtless to certain events in Jewish history. Thus Nloses 'was with the Lord on Nlount Sinai forty days and forty nights, he did neither eat bread, nor drink water' (Exod. xxxiv:28). So, also, Elijah (1 Kings xix: 8) 'arose and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the rnount of God. The same was the number of days that our Lord fasted in the desert in connection with his tempta tion (Matt. iv :1-ti ; Mark i :12, 13; Luke iv: 1-13). In the latter case the abstinence appears to have been entire, for Luke expressly declares he ate nothing, Kai otIK Coa-yem °alp, and he did not eat anythrnAr. in Oan. i:ro, 16, a passage is found which shows that abstaining from meat and wine did not imply total abstinence, for Daniel and his friends had 'pulse to eat and water to drink' (Wetstein, p. 27o; De \Vette, Kritik dcr Mos. Ges. p. 245)• (7) Abuses. We have already seen how quali fied the sanction was which Moses gave to the observance of fasting as a religious duty. In the same spirit which actuated him, the prophets bore testimony against the lamentable abuses to which the practice was turned in the lapse of time and with thc increase of social corruption (Is. Iviii:4. sq.; Jer. XIV :12; Zech. vii :5). Con tinuing the same species of influence and per fecting that spirituality in religion which Moses began, our Lord rebuked the Pharisees sternly for their outward and hypocritical pretences in the fasts which they observed (Matt. vi :16, sq.), and actually abstained from appointing any fast whatever as a part of his own religion (Matt. ix :14).