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Category: Appointed Times

Days of Fasting

Tags:  fasting, Tisha b'Av, Yom Kippur

By Aaron Eby

It is easy to get excited about the biblical calendar when holidays like Sukkot, Shavuot and Pesach commemorate joyful events in the history of God's people and foreshadow our Messiah. But Scripture, and history, tell us that not every event is a joyful one.

Certain days and times have been marked by Jewish tradition as solemn days--days for mourning, supplication, introspection, repentance and fasting. These days, though not joyous, are also part of our heritage as the Master's disciples.

Furthermore, the fast days are not simply empty rabbinic tradition. Fasting is a biblical response to severe circumstances and has been taken very seriously by prophets and kings alike. Fasting is a cry to which the Father responds, when it is done with a truly contrite heart.

Yom Kippur

The Torah specifically commands only one fast day: Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Atonement. Actually, the text does not explicitly mention fasting, but commands the children of Israel to 'afflict their souls,' (v'einitem et nafshoteichem).1 The word for 'soul' (nefesh) is a word of several meanings. While it sometimes refers to the eternal, non-physical part of a human, it is quite often a general term for an entire person. Specifically, it is a common reference to the seat of the appetite, as we find numerous passages that refer to a nefesh eating or being affected by food, especially in the book of Leviticus.2 In several other passages "afflicting the soul" is related to fasting, for example, when David declares, "I have afflicted my soul with fasting" (inneti va-tsum nafshi).3 Therefore, this phrase has historically been interpreted as a command to fast, certainly as early as the First Century, when Luke referred to the day simply as "the fast."4

Zechariah's Fast Days

The Hebrew Scriptures mention other regular fast days. One example is found in Zechariah:...

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© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission. Adapted from Messiah Magazine #82 .

For more information about this issue, click here.

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