Fasting and the transfiguration

JohnClay · Aug 27, 2025

Tellyontellyon also has a new thread about fasting but this is a bit different... (and since I'm a non-Christian I'm not allowed to post in his thread)

In the transfiguration Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. It looks liked Elijah fasted for 40 days in 1 Kings 19.

Exodus 34:28a says "Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water."

I wonder how that is possible... maybe he was drinking non-water drinks like milk?

And Jesus also fasted for 40 days. I thought it was interesting that all three of the people involved in the transfiguration had fasted for 40 days.

So 40 days is almost 6 weeks...

Obesity: Problem, Solution, or Both? - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

says:

The Irish hunger strikers of the early 1980s illustrated the outcome of unsupplemented, prolonged, absolute fasting. They only drank water, and it was clear after six weeks that all involved had sustained significant weight loss and were mortally ill. By seven weeks, all were dead.

That's 49 days...

So it seems 40 days is very dangerous. Do Christians think that God was supernaturally helping those people in the Bible who fasted for 40 days?

JohnC101 · Aug 27, 2025

I do believe that the grace of God, and His assistance, was involved to let them endure a 40 day fast.

BobRyan · Aug 27, 2025

JohnClay said:
Tellyontellyon also has a new thread about fasting but this is a bit different... (and since I'm a non-Christian I'm not allowed to post in his thread)

In the transfiguration Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. It looks liked Elijah fasted for 40 days in 1 Kings 19.

Exodus 34:28a says "Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water."

I wonder how that is possible... maybe he was drinking non-water drinks like milk?

And Jesus also fasted for 40 days. I thought it was interesting that all three of the people involved in the transfiguration had fasted for 40 days.

So 40 days is almost 6 weeks...

Obesity: Problem, Solution, or Both? - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

says:

That's 49 days...

So it seems 40 days is very dangerous. Do Christians think that God was supernaturally helping those people in the Bible who fasted for 40 days?

yes , supernatural.

When Moses came down from the mountain his face shone so brightly that the people could not look at it.

Mark Quayle · Aug 27, 2025

JohnClay said:
Tellyontellyon also has a new thread about fasting but this is a bit different... (and since I'm a non-Christian I'm not allowed to post in his thread)

In the transfiguration Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. It looks liked Elijah fasted for 40 days in 1 Kings 19.

Exodus 34:28a says "Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water."

I wonder how that is possible... maybe he was drinking non-water drinks like milk?

And Jesus also fasted for 40 days. I thought it was interesting that all three of the people involved in the transfiguration had fasted for 40 days.

So 40 days is almost 6 weeks...

Obesity: Problem, Solution, or Both? - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

says:

That's 49 days...

So it seems 40 days is very dangerous. Do Christians think that God was supernaturally helping those people in the Bible who fasted for 40 days?

FWIW, since God is Omnipotent, Self-Existent First Cause (and I will accept no lesser definition of "God"—nothing else is "God"), everything else is effect of his causing. Therefore, the existence of everything else is also "supernatural". If all we mean, then, is that going 40 days without water is "unusual", yes, indeed it is. And if that is all "miraculous" means, ok. Miracle. But that is no problem for God, who invented the usual and the laws of what we call "the natural".

Veni · Aug 27, 2025

the greatest task in life is to find reality. better the hard truth than comforting fantasy.

JohnClay · Aug 27, 2025

So the Bible mentions 3 people who fasted for 40 days... I wonder if any Christians have done a 40 day fast in modern times? (if they prayed enough, etc) I think some people in mental wards had tried to fast for dangerously long times...

Paul4JC · Aug 27, 2025

8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. [1Ki 19:8 NLT]

The interesting thing with Elijah is that he is traveling for 40 days and for nights, after " the food" that "gave him enough strength." Since it was an angel that fed him, the question arises, what food did he feed him? I believe it was a special form of "heavenly manna," or the "Bread of life."

Again, you already mentioned how difficult it would be to go on such a fast, yet Elijah traveled during his without eating, or was the angel feeding him daily bread? Either way it clear he was able to travel and then hike up to Mount Horeb. So I do see a supernatural element, at work here, namely Christ.

JohnClay · Thursday at 12:03 AM

Paul4JC said:
8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. [1Ki 19:8 NLT]

So it seems that for Moses and Elijah Mt Sinai was involved. For the transfiguration "tradition has identified it as Mount Tabor in Israel, though some scholars suggest Mount Hermon as another possibility"... (another Mount).
Though they both went to Mount Sinai, fasting for 40 days just having water is nowhere near as impressive as Moses' fast without water. I mean I thought Elijah would copy what Moses did...

Mark Quayle · Thursday at 6:00 PM

Veni said:
the greatest task in life is to find reality. better the hard truth than comforting fantasy.

By that, do you intend, the 'practical now', as opposed to the 'sweet by-and-by'?

For that matter, practical as you may be, when you are gone, what will you have gained? But what I look forward to is indeed comfort, and that is practical for now. But better, it is happiness now, which all my efforts in this life cannot give me. THAT is practical now!

But don't think it is my being saved/ secure that gives me this comfort and happiness. It is being helpless in the face of God's infinite power and purity, so that I am completely at his mercy. That's the safest place to be. And if it is not safe, it is still happiness to acknowledge and enjoy his power and purity.

Paul4JC · Thursday at 9:20 PM

JohnClay said:
So it seems that for Moses and Elijah Mt Sinai was involved. For the transfiguration "tradition has identified it as Mount Tabor in Israel, though some scholars suggest Mount Hermon as another possibility"... (another Mount).
Though they both went to Mount Sinai, fasting for 40 days just having water is nowhere near as impressive as Moses' fast without water. I mean I thought Elijah would copy what Moses did...

There are different layers to all this.

Realistically, we understand that this is not humanly possible, hence there had to be other nourishment. I believe this was the very presence of God, the bread of life.

25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. [Psa 78:25 ESV]

It was different from ordinary bread.

3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. [Deu 8:3 NLT]

I also believe the manna was different in its heavenly state and that Moses and Elijah and the elders were fed this. However the Israelites' manna, though very good, was in an earthly state.

Manna does mean "what is it"?

BTW, Moses was not the only one on the mountain the whole time. Seventy elders also went up, but probably not to the same height Moses went.

9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence! [Exo 24:9-11 NLT]

God's treat! (Some do believe they took it up.) Either way what an amazing event!

JohnClay · Thursday at 10:48 PM

Paul4JC said:
BTW, Moses was not the only one on the mountain the whole time. Seventy elders also went up, but probably not to the same height Moses went.

9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence! [Exo 24:9-11 NLT]

I wonder if the elders also heard the voice of God... I haven't read the Bible very thoroughly but I was under the impression that only Moses could hear the voice of God at the time

JohnClay · 2025-09-03T01:40:30-0500

I was wondering about how the Bible's stories about fasting relate to your current lives... e.g. what do you think about intermittent fasting, extended fasting, OMAD (one meal a day), etc? I think people in the Bible didn't necessarily have as many meals and snacks as we do.

2PhiloVoid · 2025-09-03T07:50:54-0500

JohnClay said:
Tellyontellyon also has a new thread about fasting but this is a bit different... (and since I'm a non-Christian I'm not allowed to post in his thread)

In the transfiguration Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah. It looks liked Elijah fasted for 40 days in 1 Kings 19.

Exodus 34:28a says "Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water."

I wonder how that is possible... maybe he was drinking non-water drinks like milk?

And Jesus also fasted for 40 days. I thought it was interesting that all three of the people involved in the transfiguration had fasted for 40 days.

So 40 days is almost 6 weeks...

Obesity: Problem, Solution, or Both? - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

says:

That's 49 days...

So it seems 40 days is very dangerous. Do Christians think that God was supernaturally helping those people in the Bible who fasted for 40 days?

Yes, the Lord will supernaturally sustain those who are His Chosen prophetic vessels. Fasting for 40 days isn't something I ever assume to take on for myself, other than the implicit directive within these biblical account of Moses, Elijah and Jesus to 'not live by bread alone......'

But, You essentially answered your own question, John. Good job!

timewerx · 2025-09-03T13:10:18-0500

I never fasted that long however, I'm extremely well adapted to surviving with very little water.

At present, I only drink 3 glasses of water everyday and that's accounting for frequent >90F temperatures since I live in the tropics in high humidity and up to 1.5 hours of vigorous exercise (figure skating drills, strength exercises, and plyometrics) everyday.

I'm also used to cycling in the mountains in 100 F heat for 6 hours without drinking any fluids nor eating anything while in a fasted state.

I can lose over 10% of my body weight in fluids and still function normally. That would be fatal to most people.

Someone probably not as well adapted to little water as I am survived 25 day fast without water. Who knows, maybe I can last 40 days if I get the chance to do it which is probably never due to work.

Jesus also had athletic conditioning since he often climbed a high mountain to pray. Try climbing >7,000 ft within 3 hrs, it's not an easy task to do and I always did it in a fasted state and without drinking any fluids.

Not just athletic conditioning but one that is also adapted to athletics with very little hydration. For Jesus, it doesn't seem to be entirely from divine provision for He did got very hungry eventually but he definitely had athletic conditioning.

Fasting and the transfiguration

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