Fasting meant voluntarily going without food for a period of time. In Jewish religious life it could express grief, repentance, humility, or concentrated devotion.
Some fasts were communal while others were personal. Motives and circumstances mattered as much as the outward act.
The Hebrew Scriptures connect fasting with mourning, repentance, national crisis, and prayer. Public fasts continued within Jewish practice during the Second Temple period.
A fast interrupted the normal pattern of meals and could turn attention toward prayer or a serious communal concern. The length and nature of fasts varied.
Fasting leaves little direct archaeological evidence because it is defined by not eating. Its reconstruction depends primarily upon written sources.
Scripture, Second Temple Jewish writings, Josephus, the New Testament, and later Jewish literature provide evidence for fasting.
Fasting appears in connection with mourning, repentance, danger, and appeals to God throughout the Old Testament.
Jesus fasts in the wilderness and teaches about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount. He criticizes outward display and expects devotion to be directed toward God rather than spectators.
Fasting was an established Jewish religious practice and could be either communal or individual.
Frequency differed, and practices associated with particular later Jewish groups should not be assumed for everyone in the first century.
The practice provides the setting for Jesus' teaching about sincere devotion and for Gospel discussions about why His disciples did not always fast like other groups.