MAKE YOUR VOICE  
HEARD ON HIGH  
Isaiah 58  
Michael David Bentley  
Fasting By Biblical Characters  
and  
Commentary on Isaiah 58  
Dedicated to those who encouraged and helped  
me to fast, and who prayed for me.  
Front cover by Church of the Brethren Network.  
Island of Crete - Where most of my long fasts were experienced.  
Back cover by Xerxes Wahl (www.wisementrading.com)  
Michael David Bentley  
michaeldbentley7@gmail.com  
www.To-The-Jew-First.org  
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Special thanks to: Marilyn Lawrence, Carl Barnes,  
Michael and Panouqou Moua, Karen Pittman, Randy and  
Julia Amos, and Martha Langley.  
“MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON HIGH.”  
Bethany Baptist Church  
Pastor – David Langley  
First Edition - All rights reserved.  
Copyright © 2024 by Michael D. Bentley  
All scripture references from the King James Version  
ii  
Table of Contents  
Forward.................................................................................4  
Acknowledgements................................................................6  
Preface...................................................................................7  
Fasting By Biblical Characters...............................................9  
Old Testament .....................................................................12  
New Testament....................................................................29  
Commentary on Isaiah 58 ....................................................44  
Isaiah 58:1...........................................................................47  
Isaiah 58:2...........................................................................49  
Isaiah 58:3...........................................................................55  
Isaiah 58:4...........................................................................61  
Isaiah 58:5...........................................................................63  
Isaiah 58:6...........................................................................66  
Isaiah 58:7...........................................................................75  
Isaiah 58:8...........................................................................79  
Isaiah 58:9...........................................................................85  
Isaiah 58:10 .........................................................................88  
Isaiah 58:11 .........................................................................91  
Isaiah 58:12 .........................................................................95  
Isaiah 58:13 .......................................................................100  
Isaiah 58:14 .......................................................................106  
References.........................................................................114  
Bibliography......................................................................117  
How to KNOW I will go to Heaven...................................121  
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Forward  
God called me to serve Him and pastor His flock while I was  
young and without experience. Very soon I realized this  
ministry is so hard, and I needed much more power and strength  
to be able to serve the church. More than 25 years ago I met my  
dear Brother Michael and I remember one evening when he  
invited me to pray together. I thought it would be a one or two  
minutes prayer but when he begun to pray I lost the sense of  
time, and I was very impressed when Michael was praying. It  
was like Jesus was just face to face with us. He asked me about  
fasting and I told him I used to fast one day from time to time.  
I was amazed because I never heard anybody speaking or  
teaching about fasting. He opened the Bible at Isaiah 58 and  
taught me how to fast and how powerful it is this combination  
prayer and fasting. This book he has written about Isaiah 58 it  
is one of the most powerful tools for every Christian, every  
servant of the Lord who really wants to be efficient in the  
ministry of personal walk while on the path of faith.  
I want to share with you one of my first experiences about  
fasting when Michael Bentley lived in my house and told me he  
would fast 10 days. I challenged the church to have prayer  
meetings every morning during these 10 days. While Michael  
fasted all these 10 days we just kept fasting one by one. Michael  
took me with him to buy potatoes and a lot of food for poor  
families and we went together to distribute to fulfill (verses 7  
and 10) from Isaiah 58. These 10 days of fasting encouraged me  
very much. Then I decided to fast 40 days only skipping  
breakfast every day and eating after 12 or 1 pm according to my  
strength. I will share with you a great testimony about 40 days  
fasting. In 2004, I prayed many times to be able to sell our  
house. I fasted 1-3 days then I fasted 5 days with my wife, and  
nothing happened then I decided to have 40 days fasting  
together with my wife and the children. We use to wake up  
every morning, read the Bible, and pray together and fast till 1  
pm every day for 40 days. At the beginning, I thought it would  
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be a piece of cake and it was the first 7-10 days, but after that it  
became day by day more like a spiritual battle and more  
difficult than I thought. So, I needed strength and determination  
to keep fasting for 40 days, but at the end we were amazed.  
Exactly on the 40th day on Sunday evening at 22:15 the phone  
rang, and someone asked me if we had a house for sale. I said  
yes. Next day they came to sign the paper and we shouted a big  
hallelujah! It was almost unbelievable, exactly after 40 days in  
fact in the 40th day evening after we finished the 40 days fast.  
God sent the answer to our prayer. How powerful a combination  
of fast and prayer is to fight the spiritual battle. I learned from  
this teaching about fasting from Isaiah 58 written by my dear  
friend Michael that we are in the middle of a spiritual battle. We  
do not fight with the flesh and blood but with the power of  
principalities who are in the heavenly places. I am sure you will  
read this book because you need to learn some spiritual keys to  
have victories and be full of power against our enemy. God  
bless you all of those who will read this powerful teaching about  
fasting from Isaiah 58.  
Pastor Ioan Tone  
Maranatha Baptist Church  
Bucharest, Romania 2020  
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Acknowledgements  
The encouraging remarks of believers who were encouraged by  
my teaching on fasting: Pastor Ioan Tone of Bucharest,  
Romania who wrote the introduction. Mrs. Nanette Rotemen a  
missionary in France was helped. The Mioveni Brethren  
Assembly in Romania which heard my teaching on fasting and  
together we had fasting conferences of three and seven days. I  
encouraged them with my teaching on Isaiah 58 then did a 40  
day and night fast in 2021. The pastor of the Word of Life  
Hungarian church used my teachings on fasting in his church.  
Sotiris and Mary Karalis of Crete, Greece. They kept me in  
their house during my extended fasts on the Island of Crete  
during the years 1992 to 2005. Sotiris was pastor of Bible Team  
Church in Heraklion, Crete. This church stood with me in my  
extended fasts.  
In January 1990, the Lakeland Bible Church in Lakeland,  
Florida, provided me with lodging for my first 40 day and night  
fast. I am thankful for Christ’s protection over me during the  
extended fasts. In Crete in May 1988 I slept in a tent on Elias  
Tubbeh’s olive orchard for a 30 day and night fast. In  
November 1991 I slept in my Volkswagen Passat station wagon  
on the Island of Crete for a 40 day and night fast. As best I can  
remember in all my extended fasts I never had a headache.  
Only in one fast I experienced physical difficulty. In 2001 in  
Crete I planned a 40 day and night fast. By the 30th day I had  
trouble with my stomach. I continued to day 37, but I then  
decided to stop the fast.  
The guiding and protecting hand of God was evident in my  
extended fasting. I am thankful for this unique period of my  
Christian life and experience. It was fruitful in my personal life,  
the many persons, churches, and Christian organizations  
especially Christian missions that I prayed for.  
Michael D. Bentley  
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Preface  
After 58 years of prayer and fasting, and with years of teaching  
fasting, I decided to write a book on the subject. Many of the  
30 to 40 day fasts were recorded and sent to supporters. From  
my study of fasting in the Bible, I became convinced it was one  
of God’s means of blessing His servants and their service.  
There is confirmation of the effectiveness of fasting by born  
again Christians.  
Fasting came early and easily for me in my Christian life. I was  
saved in late 1960. I was teaching Sunday school in the Naval  
Air Station in Jacksonville, FL, in 1962. I chose a breakfast fast  
because Communion was taken before Sunday School. In  
September 1963 I started Bible College at Tennessee Temple  
University. Evangelist Lester Roloff spoke to the schools each  
year and encouraged us to fast one day a week. It has been my  
practice to fast one day a week ever since. When I travel, I  
normally do not fast.  
Early in my Christian life, I started to fast one day and after  
several times increased to two days, then three. I soon reached  
a week with no food. In 1966 on an undetermined fast as a  
student and working a job, the assistant Pastor J.R. Faulkner  
cautioned me about fasting while being full-time. As I recall  
that fast stopped on day 27. During my 20 years in Israel I recall  
a fast of 15 days. I remember finishing fasts in Israel on the  
Eastern Syrian shore of the Sea of Galilee.  
The regular long fasts began in May 1988, after I was expelled  
from Israel. The long fasts were often decided upon a year  
before the fast occurred. A day and night fast of 30 to 40 days  
requires preparation and after the fast it is best to be quiet for a  
week. After the long fast caution must be exercised in breaking  
the fast. I was able to stop my evangelistic missions and  
concentrate on the fast. On a 40 day fast, J. Harold Smith would  
continue his Radio Revival Hour responsibilities.  
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I chose to free myself of normal responsibilities for the fast as  
much as possible. It is my prayer and purpose in sharing my  
fasts and Bible teachings on fasting that Christians, who read  
this booklet, will better understand and appreciate Biblical  
fasting. I pray that those who are already fasting will continue,  
and that those Christians who have not, will begin fasting.  
There may be physical reasons why a believer cannot fast. If a  
believing Christian can fast but has not yet started to fast I  
would encourage him or her to be open to begin fasting.  
Michael D. Bentley  
Missionary - Eastern Europe  
8
Fasting By Biblical Characters  
Jews Who Were Important In The Plan Of  
Salvation And In The Writing Of The Bible.  
he idea for this message came to me in the summer of 2005.  
It was at Maranatha Baptist Church in Colentina,  
Bucharest, Romania. I was asked to speak briefly at an  
evangelistic meeting. The pastor Ioan Tone likes me to talk  
about fasting. I chose Biblical characters who fasted and who  
were involved in giving us the Bible.  
T
I showed the price they paid.  
Later that summer I was at camp in Rucar, Romania and was  
asked to come and speak at a Tudor Church in Rucar. I wanted  
to speak on fasting. When I arrived I was given the evangelistic  
message. Fasting is a message for believers, not the unsaved. I  
decided to give the part fasting had in making salvation and the  
Word of God available today to all. I wanted to impress upon  
the unbeliever the investment Jewish believers made to make  
the Word of God and salvation available to all.  
On another occasion I was in Saone, France at a Sunday  
morning meeting. I shared this message of fasting. I emphasized  
the sacrificial fasting of the Jews especially concerning their  
writing the Bible. There was a communist at the meeting. After  
the meeting he came to me to say he did not realize the  
commitment of the Jews to write the Bible. The message has  
now been further developed. By this message I want to show  
the investment Jews made so salvation could be available to all  
today and their work to record the Word of God. To receive the  
Word you have to have the People of God, the Jews, to  
originally record it and then the Word to be preached and  
translated by believers. The believing Jew had to be in the right  
Spiritual state to be able to receive the Word by inspiration of  
God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17  
9
Part of the ministry of the believing Jews who are called the  
remnant of Israel was to keep the People of God close to God.  
Often it meant bringing them back to God. It also often meant  
they fasted to bring the People of God back to Him. Jehovah in  
Joel 2:12 commanded all the Jews to turn to Him with fasting.  
“God had many purposes for the Jews, here are two.”  
1. To make salvation available to all: John 4:22, Jesus is  
speaking to the Samaritan women. “Ye worship ye know not  
what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.”  
2. To write the Word of God: Romans 3:1-2, “What advantage  
then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?  
Much every way: chiefly because that unto them were  
committed the oracles of God.”  
They were to bring salvation to this world, and they were to  
write the Bible. God is the author of salvation, and He is the  
author of the Bible. But He used the Jewish Believing Remnant  
to give us salvation and the Bible. Romans 9:4-5, “Who are  
Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and  
the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God,  
and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as  
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed  
forever. Amen.” Jesus was born of a Jewish woman of the tribe  
of Judah. Romans 11:11-12, “…but rather through their fall  
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to  
jealously.” Gentile Christians are to provoke the Jews to  
jealousy. Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men,  
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father  
which is in heaven.”  
Fasting is a voluntary act of devotion. It proves sincerity and  
manifests love. To prove the sincerity of their love Paul asked  
the churches of Macedonia to send the money promised. 2  
Corinthians 8:8, “To prove the sincerity of your love.” In 2  
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Corinthians 8:24 their offering given is proof of their love.  
Fasting is a sacrifice, and it is difficult. It requires determination  
and deep commitment. It is a proof of one’s love to God and  
His Word, to the unsaved and to the born again Christians.  
James 2:20, “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith  
without works is dead?” James 2:26, “For as the body without  
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”  
One purpose of this message is to show the extent to which  
Jewish men and women of the Bible went to give us the Bible  
and make salvation available to all today. Their dedication  
could be shown in several ways. They were brave and spoke the  
truth at the risk of their lives. Jeremiah was imprisoned for  
speaking the truth before the King of Judah. Micaiah was put in  
prison by Ahab because he spoke the truth from God (2  
Chronicles 18:26). They manifested their love to Israel by  
telling them the truth whatever the cost. They were also men  
and women of prayer. They were faithful to God and His Word  
in a time when most Jews were not. They had faith. I want to  
use fasting as a means to show their dedication to God and man.  
Mioveni Church Camp of 20 years in Rucar, Romania.  
11  
Old Testament  
e see the anointing of Jesus by Mary in John 12:2,  
W
Matthew 26:6-13. Jesus said it was an anointing for His  
burial. Fasting is a form of anointing of JESUS CHRIST in His  
honor and acknowledgement of His authority and exalted  
position.  
ELIEZER  
Abram said, “the steward of my house is Eliezer of Damascus”  
(Genesis 15:2). Abram sent Eliezer to his kindred to find a wife  
for his son Isaac. Eliezer found Rebekah and he met her family.  
Genesis 24:33 says, “And there was set meat before him to eat:  
but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he  
said, speak on.” It was not time to eat. There were far more  
important concerns on his heart. This is a fundamental part of  
Biblical fasting. This was the beginning of a new approach to  
God.  
MOSES  
1. Moses was to receive the Law from God. The Jews were to  
follow this Law for 1,500 years until “The Messiah” came and  
died and was resurrected. God would give the instructions for  
worshipping Him through the ministry of the priests and the  
tabernacle. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights before He began His  
public ministry. Ezra and Nehemiah fasted before beginning  
their return to Jerusalem. It was a very strategic time and very  
important ministry which Moses was given. He wanted to be at  
his best spiritually. He wanted to please God, and to be sure he  
had it right what he was to give to the People of Israel. That is  
looking at it from the human side. The Word Moses gave us  
was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But the Jew had to be in a  
spiritual state to receive the inspired word (Exodus 34:27-28,  
Deuteronomy 9:8-21). Moses’ fast of 40 days and nights  
without food and water, is recorded in Exodus and in  
Deuteronomy. It was only at the end of the 40 days that Moses  
12  
received the two tables of stone also called tables of the  
covenant (Deuteronomy 9:11, Exodus 31:18). We learn in  
Exodus 32 Israel’s impatience to wait the 40 days for Moses to  
finish his fast and return from the mountain. They convinced  
Aaron to make them gods. Aaron made a golden calf. God was  
so angry at the Israelites that He wanted to destroy them and  
make another nation in their place. That would have made an  
interesting history (His-Story). He said to Moses “Let me alone,  
that I may destroy them…” (Deuteronomy 9:14). God knew  
the power of Moses’ prayers. Moses was so angry at the People  
that he broke the two tables of stone (verse 17). He did it  
because of the sins of the People (verse 18). Moses knew how  
angry God was so to save the People he went into prayer and  
fasting again 40 days and nights without food or water for  
them, as he had fasted for receiving the Word. He won their  
lives (verse 19). The second time is related in Deuteronomy  
9:18 and Deuteronomy 10:5. Exodus 32:32-33, “Yet now, if  
thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out  
of thy book which thou hast written. And the LORD said unto  
Moses, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out  
of my book.” Moses also had to plead for the life of Aaron his  
brother (verse 20). Paul was willing to be accursed from Christ  
if that would help the Jewish People (Romans 9:3). The first 40  
day fast was for the Word, the second was for the People. In  
Daniel 9, Daniel fasted to understand the words of Jeremiah and  
at the same time he carried the burden of the sins of Israel.  
“Fasting is a teaching and a practice found in the Bible.”  
2. Moses was a mediator between God and the Israelites. Jesus  
Christ is the Mediator between God and man. 1 Timothy 2:5,  
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,  
the man Christ Jesus.” On the cross He prayed for the  
forgiveness of those who crucified Him. Fasting by the Holy  
Spirit’s leading will help Christians to be mediators. Exodus  
34:27, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these  
words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant  
13  
with thee and with Israel. Exodus 34:28, “And he was there with  
the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread,  
nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the  
covenant, the ten commandments.”  
3. Leviticus 16 the Day of Atonement: Verses 29 and 31 use  
the verb anah – 
ענה
, teahnu - 
תענו
 (verse 29) veeinitem - 
ועניתם
 
(verse 31). This verb is used with fasting in Psalm 35:13, and  
Ezra 8:21. The word fasting is not mentioned here in Leviticus  
16, but the Jews have from before the New Testament believed  
that on the Day of Atonement Jews should fast. In Leviticus  
16:29 and verse 31 it says, “ye shall afflict your souls”. It does  
not say afflict your body. God’s work begins with His word.  
Once the believer understands the truth, then the truth must also  
reach the soul. Fasting affects the body, but God is working  
through fasting to reach the soul. In Psalm 35:13, David said, “I  
humbled my soul with fasting.” The verb anah is used and in  
literal order reads, “I humbled with fasting my soul.” Here  
Anah is translated humbled rather than afflicted.  
BENJAMITES  
Judges 20:26-28 - Some Benjamite, sons of Belial, wanted to  
abuse a Levite, “that we may know him…”, who was spending  
the night in Benjamin (Judges 19:22). The concubine of the  
Levite was given to these evil men instead of the Levite and  
they abused her all night. In the morning she was at the  
threshold of the house dead (Judges 19:26-28). All the tribes  
gathered in Mizpeh to decide what to do (Judges 20:1). The  
tribe of Benjamin needed to be judged for their treatment of the  
Levite and his concubine. The rest of the tribes were as one in  
agreement that Benjamin must be judged (20:8,11). The tribes  
asked Benjamin for the sons of Belial who did this sin, but  
Benjamin refused to give them for their judgment (20:13).  
Therefore the whole tribe of Benjamin must be judged. After  
the tribes that had attacked Benjamin lost twice, they fasted  
until evening with weeping and offering sacrifices to know  
God’s will (verse 26). Should they attack again (verses 27-28)?  
14  
Jehovah told them to attack this being the third time and then  
they succeeded in destroying Benjamin (Judges 20:39-48).  
Fasting is helpful in knowing God’s will. Fasting can lead to  
victory. God’s guidance found by fasting is also seen in Ezra  
8:21-23 and taught by Isaiah in Isaiah 58:11.  
Fasting during a war, or just before the war, can give assurance  
that Jehovah is leading. The fasting of the 11 tribes was in  
accordance with physical and spiritual conditions. But in the  
case of Saul’s fast while fighting the Philistines it was not the  
proper time to fast (1 Samuel 14:24). Saul’s motive was not  
spiritual. Saul proclaimed the fast in the flesh, not in the spirit  
of God. A spiritual act must be done with a spiritual attitude.  
The Israeli army suffered because of it. “And the men of Israel  
were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people,  
saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening,  
that I may be avenged of mine enemies. So none of the people  
tasted any food.” (verse 24). After the battle “… and the people  
were very faint. And the people flew upon the spoil, and took  
sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and  
the people did eat them with the blood.” (verses 31-32). Saul  
made this his battle, not Jehovah’s. He was trusting in fasting,  
not trusting Jehovah. Jehoshaphat properly fasted just before he  
was attacked in Jerusalem by three armies (2 Chronicles 20:1-  
3). Jehoshaphat sought Jehovah’s will. The people were with  
him in spirit. Jehovah said: “Be not afraid or dismayed by  
reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but  
God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15).  
HANNAH  
1 Samuel 1:6-28 - She was troubled by the devil because she  
was barren (verses 2,5, and 6). Her troubled spirit acted up  
especially each year as she went to the house of the Lord in  
Shiloh. She wept and did not eat. Fasting and weeping often go  
together (verse 7). [See also David in 2 Samuel 1:12, 12:21-22  
and Joel 2:12-17]. Her heart was grieved her husband noticed  
(verse 8). She was in bitterness of soul and prayed and wept  
15  
sore (verse 10). She vowed that if God gave her a son, she  
would give him to God all the days of his life (verse 11). She  
told Eli that she was a woman of sorrowful spirit and that she  
had poured out her soul before the LORD (verse 15). This is  
what it takes for a person to come to the end of himself. Eli  
prayed for her to have her request (verse 17). She had faith, got  
the victory, and was no longer sad (verse 18). And so God  
remembered her, and she gave birth to a son. She called him  
Samuel because she had asked him of the LORD (verses 19-  
20). She gave Samuel to the Lord after she had weaned him  
(verse 22). Once she would leave him at the temple he would  
abide there forever. Hannah lent Samuel to the Lord (verse  
28). Surrender was an integral part of Hannah’s receiving a  
man child. It appears to me that Jehovah would not give  
Hannah a child until she was willing to give him to Jehovah.  
Hannah needed to surrender her man child to the service of  
Jehovah. This is a call Christian mothers should be willing to  
accept.  
SAMUEL  
1 Samuel 7:1-9 - Samuel called the Israelites to repentance: “If  
ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away  
the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare  
your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will  
deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines” (verse 3). The  
people responded in a positive sense (verse 4). Then the people  
of Israel were ready to repent so Samuel called all Israel to  
Mizpeh and prayed for them (verse 5). The people first poured  
out water as an offering to Jehovah then fasted in repentance  
with Samuel judging them. “And they gathered together to  
Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD,  
and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against  
the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in  
Mizpeh” (1 Samuel 7:6). The corporate fast is especially  
blessed of Jehovah. Because Israel gathered together, the  
Philistines prepared to attack them in Mizpeh. Samuel  
sacrificed a suckling lamb as “…a burnt offering wholly unto  
16  
the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the  
LORD heard him” (1 Samuel 7:9) [See 1 Samuel 31:1-13]. The  
Philistines defeated Saul and his army in the valley of Jezreel  
and on Mount Gilboa (verses1-9). Jews of Jabesh-gilead  
rescued the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the wall in  
Beit Shean and carried them to Jabesh-gilead, burned them and  
fasted seven days (verses 10-13). “And they took their bones  
and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days”  
(verse 13). The week of fasting was a time of grieving for Saul,  
his three sons and for the army of Israel. It was their way of  
separating from them. It was common to fast for the rest of the  
day after a death. David and his men when they heard of the  
death of Saul and Jonathan and the army of Israel they fasted  
until evening (2 Samuel 1:11-12). Why did Jabesh-gilead fast  
seven days? Saul was a Benjamite. When the 11 tribes judged  
and destroyed the tribe of Benjamin virgins were sought for the  
men of Benjamin left alive. In the last day of the battle 25,000  
Benjamite soldiers were killed (Judges 20:46). Six hundred men  
were left alive (verse 47). Then the rest of the tribe of Benjamin  
was destroyed (verses 47-48). In chapter 21 we learn that  
virgins were sought from the tribe that did not come to fight  
Benjamin. Jabesh-gilead did not come. Therefore Jabesh-gilead  
was destroyed, but 400 young virgins were spared (Judges  
21:12). Perhaps because 400 young virgins of Jabesh-gilead  
became the wives of Benjamin, the men of Jabesh-gilead risked  
their lives to recover the bodies of Saul and his sons to give  
them a Jewish burial and honor them with a seven day fast.  
“There is a right time and a wrong time for a FAST…”  
SAUL  
Saul was not guided by Jehovah but by his own spirit when he  
commanded the fast in 1 Samuel 14. On the day of battle with  
the Philistines, Saul proclaimed a fast for the whole battle (1  
Samuel 14:24-52). Jonathan and his amour bearer before the  
battle left the camp unannounced to Saul. The battle was  
17  
imminent (1 Samuel 14:1-23). Saul did not know that Jonathan  
would discover that Jehovah would deliver Israel from the  
Philistines. When you see the suffering of the soldiers who  
fought without eating available food you sense things were not  
ordained by Jehovah. Jonathan received strength from tasting  
the honey. Jonathan did not know of Saul’s oath to charge the  
army to fast. The army was not in a spiritual state as they fell  
upon the animals and ate them with blood, which was forbidden  
to do. Fasting is to be Holy Spirit led. Isaiah 58:2-5 shows the  
false, rejected fast. Jesus spoke of the false fast in Matthew  
6:16-18. Saul fasted the day before his death. (1 Samuel 28:20-  
23).  
DAVID – The king of fasting  
There are at least 6 references to David and fasting.  
1. ) 2 Samuel 1:12 - David weeps and fasts because of the death  
of Saul.  
2. ) 2 Samuel 3:35 - David fasts and weeps over the death of  
Abner. He refused to eat before the sun went down. Here is an  
example of fasting for a part of a day.  
3. ) 2 Samuel 12 - David fasts for his dying son. Nathan has  
brought David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah  
her husband, to David’s attention, and he has responded in  
repentance. The judgment was the death of the child and trouble  
in David’s family the rest of his days. When the child became  
very sick (verse15), David hit the ground, started fasting and  
did not leave the ground or the fast for seven days. He did not  
eat (verses 16-18). David fasted and wept (verse 22). When the  
child died David arose from the earth, washed himself, changed  
his clothes and went into the house of God to worship (verse  
20). I believe David got the victory. The seven days were for  
David. He may have received the thoughts of Psalm 51 during  
this time. Psalm 51 was written after Nathan had spoken to him,  
after he came into Bathsheba. David’s first move after rising  
from the ground was not to eat, but to clean himself and to  
worship.  
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I think it was in early 1965, I needed money to pay for the  
Winter Semester of Tennessee Temple University. If I did not  
pay I could not take the final exams which were in one week. I  
told God I would not eat or drink until He gave me the money.  
It was seven nights and seven days later I got the notice that the  
bill had been paid. My first desire was not to drink, but to get  
alone and worship God and thank Him for His care for me. Only  
after that did I go to drink and eat.  
The Messiah came through the family of David.  
David was the writer of several Psalms.  
4. ) Psalm 35:13 - A Psalm of David. “I humbled my soul with  
fasting.” The verb anah, aniti. Fasting was one of the ways  
David kept himself spiritually fit and humble. He was a  
successful king, powerful, smart, rich and blessed of Jehovah.  
He needed to humble himself. Fasting helped him to be  
humble.  
5. ) Psalm 69:10 - A Psalm of David. “When I wept, and  
chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.”  
Chastened in KJV is added. 
בצום
 
ואבכה
. Ve-evkeh vatzom.  
Darby Bible translated “And I wept, my soul with fasting: that  
also was to my reproach.” David wept while praying and  
fasting. Not only did David weep while fasting, but his soul  
was exercised at the same time. When David fasted He not only  
met God, but he also saw the evil in his life. That was a  
reproach to him. When others see a fasting Christian they notice  
the thinness of the faster and that can be a reproach to the faster  
and to the one noticing the loss of weight. Hannah in 1 Samuel  
1:7, “therefore she wept and did not eat.” In Esther 4:3 “there  
was great mourning among the Jews, fasting, weeping, and  
wailing…” In Joel 2:12-14, “Therefore also now, saith the  
LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting,  
and with weeping, and with mourning:”  
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6. ) Psalm 109:24 - David said: “My knees are weak through  
fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.” This is part of the price  
David paid to stay in a spiritual state and to be able to receive  
the Word of God. Some effects of fasting on the body: during  
a long fast sometimes while walking my knees would buckle.  
My knees lacked their normal strength. “I ate no pleasant bread,  
neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint  
myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled“ (Daniel  
10:3). “…I became dumb… and I have retained no strength”  
(Daniel 10:15-16). During Daniel’s 21 day partial fast he had a  
vision, and he was left without strength. Jesus after His 40 day  
and night fast needed physical help. “Then the devil leaveth  
Him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him”  
(Matthew 4:11). His human body was deprived of nourishment  
during 40 days and nights which rendered Him physically  
weak. Added to that the spiritual warfare against Satan left Him  
so weak He needed angelic ministry. This 40 day fast was  
necessary for Jesus’ three and a half years of ministry that were  
before Him. It was preparatory for His public ministry. This is  
why the Holy Spirit led Him to fast 40 days and nights  
(Matthew 4:1-2 and Luke 4:1-2). Moses fasted 40 days and  
nights during the time he received the Law of Jehovah. It also  
prepared him for leading Jehovah’s people in the wilderness.  
DISOBEDIENCE AND DEATH OF THE MAN OF GOD  
In 1Kings 13:1-32, The man of God, a prophet, from Judah, was  
sent to prophesy against Jeroboam’s altar. When Jeroboam  
rejected the message and ordered that the prophet be seized,  
Jeroboam’s hand was “dried up, so that he could not pull it in  
again” (1 Kings 13:4). The prophet was instructed to not eat or  
drink while in the northern kingdom. The prophet prayed for  
the King and the King was healed. The King invited the prophet  
to come to his house. He refused the hospitality of Jeroboam.  
The prophet explained why: “for so was it charged me by the  
word of the LORD, saying, Eat no bread, not drink water, nor  
turn again by the same way that he came to Beth-el” (verse 9).  
An old prophet of God tricked or tested the prophet and invited  
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him to eat. The prophet ate and drank (verses 18-24). As the  
prophet was on his way back to Judah a lion killed him. Fasting  
is a serious commitment to God and to His SON “JESUS  
CHRIST.” I pray this study about fasting will show you the  
seriousness of fasting.  
KING JEHOSHAPHAT  
2 Chronicles 20, Life threatening danger, destruction of city.  
Jehoshaphat brought about a revival of faith in Jehovah (2  
Chronicles 17:6-9, 19:4). He, Judah and Jerusalem were  
threatened by three advancing armies from the Southeast. They  
were already in En-gedi, on the shores of the Dead Sea. He  
sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah (2  
Chronicles 20:3). It is not normal to proclaim a fast just before  
a battle. Saul did it and it was a disaster for his army (1 Samuel  
14:24-45). We studied in Judges 20:26-28 that the 11 tribes  
fasted before the third attack against Benjamin. Jehovah told  
them to attack again. Judah gathered together in the temple  
before Jehoshaphat (verses 4-5). Corporate prayer is especially  
blessed of God. Jehoshaphat confessed his inability to do  
anything and that he did not know what to do. In verses 6-12 is  
found the King’s prayer. The Jews and their families were there  
before Jehovah (verse13) Israel did not have to physically fight  
in the battle. Jehovah would fight for Israel. Therefore Israel  
was not to fear. Here is encouragement for believers today  
(verse 15-17). Jehoshaphat had faith, assurance, boldness, and  
courage as they marched toward the enemy (verses 20-21).  
When they started to sing Jehovah moved against the enemy  
(verses 22-23). When Israel arrived at the battlefield all were  
dead, they killed each other. It took three days to collect the  
spoil (verses 24-25).  
EZRA  
Ezra was a scribe of the law of God (Ezra 7:11-13). Some Jews  
needed to return to Israel. Ezra had permission from King  
Artaxerxes to take Jews who wanted to return to Jerusalem to  
rebuild it. Verses 12 and 13 are in Aramaic. Ezra was not sure  
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if he should approach the King to ask for an armed guard to  
accompany them back to Jerusalem. He therefore fasted with  
the Jews to find the will of God (8:21-23). The verb in verse 21  
says they afflicted themselves. This verb is used several times  
in the Old Testament related to fasting (Leviticus 16:29, 31,  
Psalm 35:13, Isaiah 58:3,5, Daniel 10:12). Proper fasting  
afflicts the soul. Jehovah was intreated of them. Therefore Ezra  
understood he had Jehovah’s permission to ask of the king an  
armed guard to accompany the Jews back to Jerusalem. God  
revealed His will. Jews needed to be in Israel for the appearing  
of the Messiah 450 years later. The armed guard would help to  
assure the arrival of the Jews to Jerusalem with all that they  
brought with them. Jerusalem needed to be built up and  
inhabited. Fasting is helpful in finding God’s will (Judges  
20:26, Isaiah 58:11).  
NEHEMIAH  
Nehemiah heard of the condition of the Jews in Israel and of  
Jerusalem. He was burdened so he sat down and wept, and  
mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of  
heaven (Nehemiah 1:4). Jerusalem was the center of God’s  
work on earth in the Old Testament times. For God’s purposes  
to be accomplished, Jerusalem must be built up. And Jews  
needed to be living in Bethlehem for here the Messiah would  
be born. Nehemiah went back 14 years after Ezra arrived in  
Jerusalem. The Jews were living in sin, many had taken non-  
Jewish wives (Nehemiah 9:1-3). In the seventh month the Jews  
of Jerusalem gathered with fasting. They separated themselves  
from the strangers and confessed and read the book of the law  
for a fourth of the day and confessed one fourth of the day.  
Fasting was used to bring Jews back to where they could  
accomplish God’s will and work (Nehemiah 9:1-3). Nehemiah  
wrote the book of Nehemiah.  
QUEEN ESTHER  
King Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia had  
authorized evil Haman’s plan to destroy all the Jews in his  
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Kingdom (Esther 3:6-11). When the Jews heard it they turned  
to mourning, fasting and weeping (Esther 4:3). Mordecai told  
Queen Esther of the plan and challenged her to plead for the  
life of the Jews before the King, her husband. She risked being  
killed because she had not been called in to the King for one  
month (Esther 4:11).  
Esther was well trained in spiritual matters by Mordecai. She  
was willing to die, but she would do what she could to get God’s  
protection and blessing. She asked all the Jews present in the  
city where she lived in Shushan to fast, eating and drinking  
nothing for three days and nights. Esther fasted as well (Esther  
4:16). The Jews were saved from annihilation. Esther sent the  
history of this deliverance with its fasting’s to all the Jews in  
the 127 provinces (Esther 9:29-31). This fast is never to be  
forgotten by Bible believers. All the Jews could have been  
destroyed. That would have meant that there was no longer a  
family of David from which the Messiah had to come. Looking  
at it from a human viewpoint Esther had a definite part in this  
deliverance and so did the fasting.  
ELIJAH  
1 Kings 19:8 “And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in  
the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb  
the mount of God.” Some believe this was a fast. If Elijah did  
not eat did he also not drink for the 40 days and nights? This  
has been my experience many times, to have eaten my last meal  
and not eat any food nor drink juice or tea but only water for 30  
to 40 days and nights. I drink only water on an extended fast.  
After 40 days and nights of no food I was still functioning. If  
Elijah did not eat during 40 days and nights I assume divine  
strength was given to make the walk to Mount Horeb. Jesus,  
after His fast of 40 days and nights, was ministered to by angels  
(Matthew 4:11). One secret to ending a fast and beginning to  
eat is caution, care and discipline. Slowly, very slowly return  
to eating. Eat small amounts. Overdoing it will result in having  
to start all over again to retrain your system.  
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ISAIAH  
Isaiah devoted a whole chapter to fasting (Isaiah 58). I have an  
extended teaching on this chapter on my website: To-The-Jew-  
First.org. He spoke as one who understood fasting. He  
explained the false fast