"What's the story behind fasting?" My response to a question
"Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2. “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you”. 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth." What is the story behind fasting? I do not remember reading anything in the Bible from God saying we should fast. Just a tradition? Even Jesus seemed neutral; he just said if you do it - do not do it to be seen by others as sacrificing for your own personal benefit. Dennis Hey Dennis, In the Old Testament, and in later rabbinic Judaism, fasting was practiced for several reasons: as a sign of mourning (i.e., “I’m too...