Fasting and
Humility
Alone with confession, the people
approach God by “humbling themselves” with fasting. In many of our texts, this
is coupled with prayer and petition, especially in times of distress as a sign
of penance (1 Macc. 2:14; 2 Macc. 3:13-23). Communal fasts are proclaimed in
times of penitence or solemn prayer (Ezra 7;21-23; Neh. 9:1; Esther 4:16) and
also in preparation for battle (1 Macc. 3:47; 2 Macc. 10:25-26). Nehemiah fasts
when lamenting Jerusalem’s breached wall (Neh. 1:4). Daniel fasts as he
confesses Israels sins and pleads for mercy (Dan. 9:3). When Judith’s community
is under threat, they “humble themselves” by donning sackcloth and fasting
(Jdt. 4:9-13). Esther’s bodily mortification is similar, and she also replaces
her regal garments with those of mourning and sorrow (Esther 14:1-12). Such
alteration of dress—such as rending one’s garments or wearing sackcloth—is a
gesture of self-denial and humility, putting off what might suggest pride (such
as showy, regal garments) and lowering oneself in an appeal to be exalted by
God.
But fasting is not only a pious
response to calamity. It is a salutary practice of the faithful’s regular life
of faithfulness and prayer. (John Muddiman says that the practice saw a “marked
increase” in the postexilic period [“Fast, Fasting,” ABD 2:773-76, at
774]. Regular fasting can be seen in various sects but also among nonsectarian
Jews, such that Romans could stereotype Jews by the practice [e.g., Suetonius, Claudius
76]). Judith’s regular fasting and prayer, for instance, are noted as a part of
her exemplary piety (Jdt. 8:6; 9:1). Indeed, in the New Testament, we see that
regular fasting is a pious Jewish practice continued, after the crucifixion, by
Jesus’s apostles and followers (cf. Luke 2:37; 18:12; Acts 12:2; 2 Cor. 6:5;
11:27). As the angel tells Tobit and his son, Tobiah (“Tobias” in Greek and
Latin), “Prayer with fasting in good” (Tob. 12:8). Of course, fasting as a sign
of repentance must be a sign of actual repentance. As Jesus will emphasize, it
is a sign for God and should not be done to impress others (Matt. 6:16-18).
Likewise, if one fasts but still willfully pursues wickedness, the value of
this self-humbling is nullified (Sir. 34:31). Nonetheless, Jesus says that
earnest fasting, like almsgiving, stores up “treasure” in heaven that God will
“repay” (Matt. 6:18, 20).
Considering the act of fasting and its association can help one understand its value. Associated with major feasts and liturgical fasts in the Jewish calendar (cf. Lev. 23:27; Zech. 7:5), fasting sets apart particular times or seasons for prayer and penitence. Associated with occasions of mourning (e.g., 1 Sam. 31:12; 2 Sam. 1:12), particularly when it is accompanied by ashes, fasting is a humble self-reminder of one’s own mortality. As a gesture combined with prayer, it is an act of humility before the immortal creator. It also bears psychological value to help one’s life of repentance and faith. Temporary self-deprivation reminds us that it is not first our own hands and pantries that sustain us, but the power and mercy of God, and such intentional reminders of God’s power can “nourish” prayer in that way. (Tertullian, On Penitence 9) Fasting also points us to repentance, since remembering own’s death and coming judgment can deter one from sinning (Sir. 7:36). Likewise, fasting exercises one’s will and puts bodily desires into subjugation, so it is an ascetic mode of training in faithfulness. Noncanonical texts point to fasting, in this way, as freeing one from slavery to unhealthy desire or envy and as a means to “pursue self-control and purity with patience.” (Testament of Joseph 10.2; cf. Testament of Simeon 3.2-3) Exercising one’s will to deprive oneself of good things, like food, prepares one to be able to resist giving into our desires when they tempt us to evil. Fasting, therefore, is upheld by many in the postexilic period not merely as a proper response to God’s discipline after sinning—through it is that—but also as a mode of self-discipline and training in godliness. (James B Prothro, The Bible and Reconciliation: Confession, Repentance, and Restoration [A Catholic Biblical Theology of the Sacraments; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2023], 100-2)
