Fasting As Rest?

This is part 7 of Chapter 6 of Friends With God: The Gifts Of God.

In this chapter we are exploring the blessings that God gives to those who delight in his way of life.

In previous posts in this series we have seen that one of the great blessings God has given us is the weekly day of rest, called the Sabbath, which simply means “rest”. God also provided annual Sabbath Days that commemorate the major events in God’s plan for mankind. These annual Sabbaths were explained in some detail in this previous post.

God set apart specific days, be they the weekly Sabbath or the annual Holy Days, on which we are to stop our normal physical activities, and focus on His spiritual work with us.

Fasting And The Sabbath

In the last post in this series we explored the difference between how God expects us to prepare food on the annual Holy Days compared to the weekly Sabbath.

However, when we compare the Sabbath and the Day of Atonement, we find some interesting similarities. Fasting is to abstain from food, and the Sabbath is to abstain from work. Atonement is a day of fasting, so there is no doubt that food preparation is not permitted on this Holy Day. (For more detail on fasting please see this post Spiritual Fasting)

Atonement is called in scripture “the Sabbath of rest”. (Lev 16:31, 23:32) As the word Sabbath is almost identical to the word for rest, then this simply means “a rest of a rest”.

Such a total rest on Atonement seems obvious, as you are not preparing food. You are not doing anything much, as you don’t have any energy because you are not eating.

However, it may come as a surprise that the weekly Sabbath is also often called a “Sabbath of rest”. (Exo 16:23, 31:15, 35:2, Lev 23:3) This parallel between Atonement and the weekly Sabbath seems to emphasise the importance of not preparing food on the weekly Sabbath. However, as explained previously, on all the other Holy Days food may be prepared for eating on that day.

Even so, the scriptures certainly don’t require you to fast on the Sabbath day, as in Exodus 16:23 it says to prepare food on the Friday for consuming on the Sabbath. Despite this, the purpose of fasting is actually similar to the purpose of keeping the Sabbath.

The first scripture in the first post in this series was: “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day and call the Sabbath a delight…” Isaiah 58:13-14. This verse comes after a long discussion on fasting in verses 1-12, where the purpose of fasting is explained in great detail. Please take the time to read these twelve verses, as I won’t quote them in full.

God starts by telling the prophet to shout and Declare to my people their rebellions, and to the house of Jacob (Israel) their sins. (Isaiah 58:1) While they purported to want justice and to draw near to God, in reality they were hypocrites, who only wanted the pretence of justice.

They fasted, but God didn’t care, because their fasting was hypocritical. They did not fast to overcome oppression, but to cause oppression!

'Why have we fasted?' they ask, But you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves, but you take no notice?'" (God replies) Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and crush all your labourers. (Isa 58:3)

The words “your” and “and” are not in the original, so it could read: Behold, in the day of fasting you find pleasure (laughed) to crush all your labourers.

• It seems that they forced their labourers to fast when everyone else was fasting, but did not allow them to stop work, but instead laughed at them while they struggled while weak from no food!

No wonder God tells them:

You fast only for quarrelling, and for fighting, and for hitting with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and have (expect) your voice (to be) heard on high (by God). (Isaiah 58:4)

Their purpose in fasting was completely upside down. God then tells them that fasting is not for the outward show of humility and looking sad and oppressed, but for helping the poor and needy:

to loose the bonds of injustice, and to untie the cords of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke… to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him with clothing…" (Isa 58:6-7)

If you do this when you fast, then God will hear you, and bless you.

Isaiah then brings in the Sabbath, as quoted above: "If you keep your feet from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day,…

• They had the same hypocritical attitude to the Sabbath as they had to fasting.

• They pretended to obey God, but did so only in outward appearance. God is not fooled by such evil and blatant hypocrisy.

Jesus’ directives on fasting also address the hypocrisy of the leaders of his day:

And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly I say to you, They have their reward. (Their reward was that other people would think they were holy and righteous, because they fasted and suffered.) But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to (God) your Father in secret. And (God) your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. (Matt 6:16-18)

Fasting, without making a show of it, is rewarded by God. Not only that, but your reward will be given openly, so others will see it.

Photo by Author, spider webs on grass with dew.

The Egalitarian Aspect Of The Sabbath Command

As we have seen in the previous post in this series, the Sabbath is a time for everyone to rest at the same time of the week. Its built-in egalitarian nature should not be undermined by some people putting on airs and lording it over others, whom they consider to be unimportant. Yet that is exactly what the Jewish leaders were doing:

And they love the finest seats at the feasts (Annual Sabbath Days of God), and the exalted seats in the synagogues, (on the Sabbath day) and (subservient) greetings in the market-places, and to be called, Rabbi! Rabbi! by men. (Matt 23:6-7)

Today, in many modern Christian churches, we see the same self-aggrandisement by leaders who have grand titles and exorbitant salaries, and who have sycophantic underlings to do their bidding, while also oppressing the poor by demanding money from them.

While fasting is to abstain from food, and the Sabbath is to abstain from work, both can be abused and totally undermined by hypocritical attitudes and actions. Yet God is not fooled, even if some gullible people are. He can see your true motives, and will bless you only if you fast or keep his Sabbath with a pure heart:

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. (Matt 5:8)

Preparing Food Before The Sabbath Summary

In summary, from what we have discussed in the previous posts in this chapter, we have four indications that we should prepare food prior to the Sabbath in order to totally rest on the Sabbath:

1. As discussed in post 6 Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which you will bake to day, and seethe that you will seethe; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. (Exodus 16:23) This is showing that God expects us to prepare for the Sabbath the day before, so we don’t need to do any major food preparation on the Sabbath.

2. We are often told not to do any work on the Sabbath day. (Exo 20:10, 13:4-5, 35:2, Lev 23:3, Deut 5:14, Jer 17:22-24) Three of these instances invoke the death penalty for doing work, thus showing the seriousness with which God takes this command.

3. As discussed in post 6, there is a clear distinction between the work directive for the weekly Sabbath and the work directive for the Annual Sabbath Days. On the weekly Sabbath we are commanded to do no work, but on the Annual Sabbath Days the command is for no servile work, which means that food preparation for food eaten on that day is allowed on the Annual Sabbath Days.

4. As discussed above in this post, there is a clear parallel between the “Sabbath of rest” for Atonement and the seventh day Sabbath, which is also called the ‘Sabbath of rest’.

Having said the above, we must realize that some ‘preparation’ of food on the Sabbath may be necessary. Children need food prepared for them, and we have already seen how the disciples picked grain and were guiltless, due to applying mercy because of their hunger.

We therefore need to personally determine how much we cook, or what we do to prepare food prior to the Sabbath. It’s not something anyone else could tell you, as the answer is based on your circumstances and needs.

We need to apply the principles of mercy, and of preparation, and of not taking God’s name in vain, and of proper rest etc.. It’s also not something that you can judge others regarding, as the Pharisees did with the disciples.

What you choose to do shows how you delight in God. It’s therefore a very personal matter between you and God.

Mercy And The Sabbath

God gives us some very clear examples about what to do and not to do on the Sabbath. One of the most striking examples is the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath, and God ordered that he be executed! You can read this incident in Numbers 15:32-36.

How does this compare with Jesus’ admonition, discussed previously, to apply mercy when judging people about the Sabbath? (Matthew 12:1-5)

We will be exploring this controversial topic in the next post in this series.