Fasting
We read in several places in Scripture that people fasted forty days and nights. Does "fasting" mean complete abstinence from food or was there a minimal amount each day that was allowed a person by the "laws of fasting" (if there were such a thing)? Forty days without eating anything seems to be almost a physical impossibility, doesn't it? What was the underlying reason for fasting? Clear the mind? Preparation? Other?
There are no rules for fasting in the Bible. The only prescribed fast was on the Day of Atonement, and even this does not use the word "fast," but "deny himself" (Leviticus 23:29). The examples in the Bible that describe the fast are mostly absolute fasts.
Deuteronomy 9:9, 18 "...forty days and forty nights; (Moses) ate no bread and drank no water."
Ezra 10:6 "(Ezra) ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn...."
Esther 4:16 "Go, gather together all the Jews...and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day."
Acts 9:9 "For three days (Paul) was blind, and did not eat or drink anything."
Acts 27:33 "'For the last fourteen days,' he said, 'you...have gone without food—you haven't eaten anything.'"
Examples of partial fasts (abstinence from certain foods only):
I Kings chapter 17
Daniel 10:3 "(Daniel) ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over."
The main purposes were to focus on spiritual things and to express repentance.
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