Does Isaiah 58 Prove That If I Fast, My Health Will Spring Forth Speedily?

It appears to at first glance, but it actually doesn’t.  Read Isaiah 58:6-11 and see what it really says.

A sloppy reading of this passage has led generations of Christians to teach erroneously that fasting looses bands of wickedness, undoes heavy burdens and lets the oppressed go free.  I fasted two days the week I wrote this, but no bands of wickedness were undone, no heavy burdens were removed and no oppressed people went free because I fasted.  Fasting IS a New Testament practice, the main idea of which is to keep your flesh under, which is why I did it.

Isaiah did not say that fasting undid bondage and oppression.  His point was that the Israelites were attempting to prove their piety by fasting, yet they were oppressing people and putting heavy burdens on them.  The idea was that God would rather that their “fast” be ceasing to oppress people rather than just abstaining from food.  That would be more valuable.

This is more obvious when you read the 3 verses prior to the passage cited above:

Isaiah 58:3-5:
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.
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.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

Isaiah lamented what the Israelites did while fasting.  He made it clear that God had no pleasure in their fasting while they still acted mean.

“Health speeding forth speedily” was a promise, but the stated conditions were not going on a fast.  Instead, the conditions were dealing their bread to the hungry, bringing the poor to their houses, covering the naked and not hiding themselves from people in need.  In other words, it was walking in love instead of callousness toward others that would produce health springing forth speedily.

So we should expect today that being good to others will be good for our health.

Some people cite health benefits from fasting; I’ve found that fasting helps take off extra weight, so I’ve lost weight and felt better after fasting.  However, that has nothing to do with what Isaiah was talking about, and there is actually nothing in the Bible that says “Fast and get healthier” even if that might work for you.  There is no shortage of books claiming that an Old Testament diet will make you healthier, too, but nothing in the New Testament supports that claim.  No Christian was ever told, “Keep the Law when it comes to food and you’ll feel better and be healthier.”