Verse of the Day
Author Spotlight
Loading featured author...
Report Issue
See a formatting issue or error?
Let us know →
But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
Verse Takeaways
1
Look Normal When You Fast
Commentators explain that anointing the head and washing the face were part of normal daily grooming in that culture. Jesus's instruction was to simply maintain a normal appearance, not to adopt a special, somber look to advertise one's piety. Scholar John Gill notes this directly contradicted some Jewish customs that forbade washing and anointing on fast days.
See 3 Verse Takeaways
Book Overview
Matthew
Author
Audience
Composition
Teaching Highlights
Outline
+ 5 more
See Overview
9
18th Century
Presbyterian
But you, when you fast, anoint, etc. That is, appear as you do daily. Do not assume any new appearance, or change your countenance or dres…
19th Century
Anglican
Anoint your head, and wash your face — Both these acts were rigidly prohibited by the traditions of the Elders on the Day of Atonement, an…
Baptist
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secre…
Your support helps us maintain this resource for everyone
Yet Jesus, far from banning fasting, assumes his disciples will fast as well as give alms and pray (vv.3, 6). What he condemns is ostentation in fa…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
But you, when you fast Christ allows of fasting, but what is of a quite different kind from that of the Jews; which …
Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Fa…
Get curated content & updates
13th Century
Catholic
And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. After specifying the manner of praying and giving alms, He now specifie…
