Gedaliah's Fast

Fasting is not needed for believers delivered by Jesus Christ's work.

Christians often ask me about “fasting.”

Should we fast? Why fast? What’s the purpose of fasting for a believer?”

Full disclosure: I try to fast for 17 hours every day (I’m not always successful). However, I fast for physical and mental reasons.

I never “fast” for spiritual reasons as a Christian.

In this post, I’ll show you from the Bible why fasting for believers delivered from sin’s bondage by the Person and Work of Jesus is unnecessary for spiritual reasons.

The idea of fasting as a believer to get GOD to move on your behalf contradicts the Gospel.

Fasting in the Hebrew Scriptures

Gedaliah, the Jewish governor of the Babylonian province of Yudah (Israel), is assassinated by Yishmael, during the 7th month, Tishri, 586 BC. (II Kings 25:25-26).

Zechariah 8:19 is a verse that few English-speaking believers in Jesus understand.

“This is what the YHWH (LORD), the Almighty (“Your King”) says: ‘The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.’”

Don’t zone out on me!

I realize you have no idea what the Hebrew fasts of “the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months” are in Zechariah 8:19.

I’ll explain these fasts.

The Hebrew lunar calendar is different from our solar United States calendar.

The Jews would watch the sky, and when they saw the “sliver of a new Moon,” they would blow the trumpets, and a New Month would begin (it’s called “the New Moon festival” in the Bible).

The Bible keeps time by lunar months. The chart below shows how the lunar Jewish months (outer circle) correspond to our Western solar months (inner circle).

The Lunar month Nisan is the FIRST MONTH. To understand the Hebrew fasts, move clockwise from Nisan (the first month) to the fourth month (Tammuz), the fifth month (Av), the seventh month (Tishrei), and the tenth month (Tevet).

During the lunar years of 588-586 BC, the Jews found themselves “in the midst of great distress” (Lamentations 1:3).

ISRAEL Was Conquered by BABYLON in 586 BC.

The most significant “tragedy” in the history of Israel is the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, YHWH’s Temple, and the exile of the Jewish people to Babylon (modern Iraq) in the year 586 BC.

Since 586 BC, Jews have fasted to commemorate the devastating events of Jerusalem’s downfall, recalling the need to mourn and repent over sin to obtain God’s mercy.

These four fasts in Zechariah were to “mourn, remember, and plead” for God’s mercy, remembering the horror of 586 BC. These fasts were enumerated:

1. “The fast of the tenth month” (Tevet in 588 BC) commemorates the Babylonian army, under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar, surrounding Jerusalem for a 16-month siege, beginning in Tevet 588 BC (corresponding to our solar months of December/January). For the next sixteen months, the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem (see Ezekiel 24:1)

2. “The fast of the fourth month” (Tammuz in 586 BC) is when the army breached the walls of Jerusalem and King Zedekiah of Judah and his sons are murdered by Nebuchadnezzar (see II Kings 25:3-7)

3. “The fast of the fifth month” (Ninth of Av or Tisha B’Av in Hebrew, for 586 BC), represents the desecration and destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (see II Kings 25:8-21). This date, Tisha (the ninth day) of Av (the fifth month), is also the date that the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in AD 70.

4. “The fast of the seventh month” ( Tishrei in 486 BC). Gedaliah, a Jew appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to oversee Jeremiah the prophet and other Jews who were not taken into Babylonian Exile, is assassinated by Yishmael, a Jew from the royal family of King David of Judah (see II Kings 25:25-26). After the assassination, the surviving Jews, in fear of retaliation by Nebuchadnezzar, fled to Egypt, in direct contradiction of YHWH’s command to stay in the land after the fall of Jerusalem, given through the prophet Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 42:10-20).

Should Christians Fast like the Jews of Old?

A modern Jew fasting for Tisha B’Av, October 6, 2024 (The Ninth of Av)

The radical nature of the New Covenant is illustrated by the words of YHWH (the LORD) to His people, the Jews, through the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 8:19.

When a preacher tries to get you to “fast” to get GOD to move on your behalf, you need to remember Zechariah’s words of encouragement (below) which will help you understand that fasting is for “the mourning and repentant” needed a Deliverer, not the believer who has come to rest in the Truth and the Peace that comes from the Deliverer, Jesus Christ, through His work on our behalf.

Jesus is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

Fasting ends when the believer is joined to the Messiah by faith. I’ll show you what I mean.