Isaiah 58:1-11 Seems to entail the first ten days of this seventh month, from Trumpets, rather noisy on the first day, to Atonement, self-examination (turning from self-indulgence, do not covet) on the tenth day. So now we get to the point of what “fast” really means in scripture.
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is (this the) fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush (in sadness), and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
It doesn't appear that these actions are acceptable to God, does it?
Does “fast” mean to bow down in sadness, and abstain from...
1. it is forbidden to eat,
2. to drink,
3. to wash,
4. to anoint, and
5. to wear leather shoes and to
6. have intimate relations with your spouse?
Evidently not so, according to the desires of God for His people.
Continuing the right way.
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
So to properly “fast” God’s way means to...
1. loose the bands of wickedness
2. undo the heavy burdens
3. let the oppressed go free
4. break every yoke
5. deal thy bread to the hungry
6. bring (in) the poor
7. (cover) the naked, that thou cover him
8. hide not thyself.
8 Then……………….. shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.
9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
This is the way to keep oneself from coveting. This is the way to properly "fast."
This is the 10th day of Tishri, and Commandment number 10 is... "Thou shalt not covet."
"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)
"Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." (Matthew 5:42)