The Spiritual Discipline of Fasting

“fasting and prayer” on special occasions. What is fasting? How does it relate to things spiritual? Most people today probably think of it primarily as a diet designed for quick weight loss. Or, perhaps a vague idea that it is something one might do to overcome guilt from indulging too much in things that are not good for us. Our purpose here is to understand from the Bible and in practical ways the spiritual discipline of fasting.

What Does the Old Testament Say About Fasting?

There are several instances in the Old Testament where a fast is “proclaimed.” That is, a spiritual leader asks that everyone fast for some particular purpose. In Ezra 8:21, Ezra and the group of people he is leading back to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, fast in order “that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.” This shows that one reason for fasting was to ask God for special favor or blessing. Other times, the proclaimed fast was intended to show mass repentance, such as the one Jeremiah called for in Jer. 36:11. There are three major stories that show us, in more detail, fasting as it was practiced in the Old Testament. We’ll start with the story of Esther.

The story of Esther: When Mordecai wrote asking her to stand up for her people, pointing out that if no one did anything, she would die with her people, and that perhaps God had placed her where she was just “for such a time as this,” (Esther 4:14) she replied by saying, “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

This passage shows us what was involved in fasting—no eating or drinking at all—and we can also extrapolate some reasons or goals.

1. Fasting (as in many cultures) was often done for mourning, and Esther may have been asking for mourning in advance, in case she did indeed perish.

2. Fasting was seen as a way to intensify prayer, humbling oneself so that heaven might hear. Esther was in dire need of God’s attention.

3. Fasting can “clear the path,” so to speak, between the soul and God, clarifying thinking and putting a needy human in direct connection with the Divine. Therefore, it can strengthen spiritually and give courage where courage is needed, as it certainly was in this case. Esther well knew what the king had done to an earlier wife who displeased him.

4. A group fast can also unite people in one cause. The text does not actually mention prayer—in fact, Esther is the only book in the canon that never mentions the name of God at all—but it is clearly implied that prayer is the purpose of this fast. It is also clearly implied by Mordecai that it may have been God’s purpose in elevating the Hebrew girl Hadassah to the status of queen, so that she would be able to save her people.

They fasted three days, Esther went before the king, and the rest is history. It is a history that is celebrated by the Jews to this day, with the fast of Purim, (which means lots or a kind of dice because the date to kill the Jews was chosen by lot) in which they remember the bravery of their ancestor by both fasting and feasting in her memory.