Of the feasts instituted by God and listed most comprehensively in Leviticus 23, only one includes a fast: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Even then, it is not named as a fast, but it has been understood throughout the millennia that “humble yourselves” in verses 27 and 29 mean a fast. For many centuries, the Jewish people have fasted from food and water, if they are able, or eaten as little as possible, on that day. They also abstain from washing themselves and from sexual relations. This is the day that one (in the Old Testament system of worship) stands before the judgment seat of God, and like David, one has no room for anything on the mind but repentance and atonement.
However there are two other things in this
chapter that can be seen as fasts. First, there is Passover and Unleavened
Bread. For eight days, the people were told to eat bread without any leaven; in
fact, not to have any leaven at all in their dwellings (Ex.
12:15, 19, and others). This is, then, a fast from yeast and other leavens,
which are seen, in this light, as symbolizing sin, with its power to grow and
spread throughout a life. Secondly, until the Wave Sheaf, or offering of the
First fruits of the season, no new grain was to be eaten, whether as bread or
roasted. (Verse
14.) The first of the harvest went to God, as a thank you to the Lord of
the harvest.
It is an interesting and instructive experience,
for Christians as well as Jews, to go through their houses removing all items
containing leaven (pondering, all the while, the ongoing attempt to remove sin
from the life) and then to go eight days eating no leavened bread. The one who
tries it soon learns there is leaven in a lot of foods one would never have
suspected. Just like sin.
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