Moses Fasted – Deuteronomy 9:9-18; 9:25; 10:10
Deut 9:9-18 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water. Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. And at the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.” The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.” So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands. And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes.Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
Deut 9:25 So I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said He would destroy you.
Deut 10:10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time, and that time the LORD again listened to me and agreed not to destroy you.
Yehusha Fasted – Matt 4:1-2
Matt 4:1-2 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
David Fasted, Mourning His Child’s Illness – 2 Samuel 12:18-23
2 Samuel 12:18-23 On the seventh day the child died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not listen to us. So how can we tell him the child is dead? He may even harm himself.” When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” “He is dead,” they replied. Then David got up from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him, and he ate. “What is this you have done?” his servants asked. “While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate.” David answered, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Elijah Fasted While Escaping Jezebel – 1 Kings 19:4-8
1 Kings 19:4-8 while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
Ezra Fasted While Mourning Over Sin – Ezra 10:6
Ezra 10:6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and walked to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. And while he stayed there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.
Esther Fasted for the Safety of the Jews – Esther 4:3; 4:15-17
Esther 4:3 In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4:15-17 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
Darius Fasted For the Safety of Daniel – Daniel 6:17-23
Daniel 6:17-23 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed. Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. 20When he reached the den, he cried out in a voice of anguish, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever! 22My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.” The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den, and when Daniel was lifted out of the den, no wounds whatsoever were found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
Muslim Fast: Eid Ul-Fitr
It is one the most important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims. This feast marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. This religious Eid occurs in the month of Hijri under the Muslim lunar calendar. The date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities. Therefore the Muslim day of celebration varies by locality. Eid Ul-Fitr is the Muslim vestige of the 30-40 fast from the original calendar
Early Church Fasted: Lent
Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, the night before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Passover through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, simple living and self-denial. It is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed, United Protestant, Roman Catholic Churches and some nondenominational Christian churches. Lent is the Chritian vestige of the 30-40 fast from the original calendar.