Where in Leviticus is fasting first mentioned?

Answer 1

"Fasting" isn't mentioned in the Old Testament at all [including Leviticus], at least, by that word.

The closest to "fasting" in Leviticus would be [in the King James Version] "afflict":

"...in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall AFFLICT your souls, and do no work at all... for on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall AFFLICT your souls, by a statute for ever." (Lev.16:29-31)

Even the "Literal Bible or Strong's Definitions" doesn't call this "fasting":

"...On the tenth of the month YOU WILL HUMBLEyourselves... A Sabbath of rest it {is} to you, and YOU WILL HUMBLE yourselves. {It is} a statute never-ending." (same passage; Literal Bible).

"You will humble" -- "'anah" (pronounced aw-naw') "[...the idea of looking down or browbeating]; to depress literally or figuratively, transitive or intransitive (in various applications, as follows): KJV-- abase self, afflict(tion, self)... chasten self, deal hardly with, defile, exercise, force, gentleness, humble (self), hurt, ravish... submit self, weaken, X in any wise." (Strong's Definitions)

In these passages [and this chapter]... Moses is informing Aaron and his sons [the representative high priests of God... [who are the prophetic picture of Jesus Christ -- "...we have a Great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God..." - Heb.4:14] regarding their specific duties for the annual observance of the "Day of Atonement" by God's people [that illustrates that "harvest time" phase of God's plan of salvation when Jesus returns to earth and lays all the sins of the world on the head of Satan the Devil; the azazel goat].

While the term "fast" isn't specifically mentioned here... the upshot of the annual "Day of Atonement" has come to mean "fasting" as part of the "humbling" of the people... with the 24-hour period of the commanded time of fasting certainly playing its part in the "weakening of the self in any wise."

Nothing humbles and afflicts the physical body and reminds it of its "temporary" existence and it's need for the blessing of God for our "daily bread" quicker than going without food for an extended period of time.

The word "fast" [in the sense of "afflicting the soul"... the human body] doesn't appear in the KJV until the New Testament:

"Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance... when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth thee in secret, shall reward thee openly." (Matt.6:16-18)

Fasting may be employed by anyone at any time.... but Leviticus 16 reveals the only commanded annual Holy Day Sabbath of God that isn't a "feast" [normally the self-satisfied feeding of the body; but the physical and spiritual "affliction" -- humbling -- of it].

Picturing the sobering time when Jesus Christ returns to earth for the final "atonement" [the Day of Atonement]... the placing of the sins of the world that He's borne for man all this time, squarely upon the head of the "original sinner" -- Satan the Devil.

"...he was a murderer from the beginning... when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for HE IS A LIAR, and THE FATHER [originator] OF IT." (John 8:44)

"Sin is": the breaking of the law; the Ten Commandments [I John 3:4]. And Satan did it, first.

So, the first place in Leviticus where "fasting" is mentioned is "Leviticus 16:29." Only it calls it "afflicting" the self... humbling oneself before God [physically and spiritually] in thankful recognition of Jesus' selfless, Loving Sacrifice of Himself... the shedding of His Divine Blood... to save us from our bondage to the master and god of this world; and from collecting the wages we've earned from doing his works.

That mankind might be saved from the Second Death... and Live Eternally.

"...Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection [at Jesus' return on the Day of Atonement]: on such the Second Death hath no power..." (Rev.20:6).

The Hebrew scriptures [the Old Testament] don't say "fasting," as such. We have to wait on the Greek scriptures before we read of the "fast."

"...sailing was now dangerous, because THE FAST [the Day of Atonement] was now past..." (Acts 27:9).

This passage is speaking of the late fall/winter seasonof the year [when sailing the sea and travel was treacherous]... the end-of-the-year seasons that symbolize the final four phases and the end of God's plan: the Feast of Trumpets [Jesus returns at the Last Trump], the Day of Atonement [Jesus divests Himself of the sins of the world and assumes His proper place as world-ruler and KING], the Feast of Tabernacles[Jesus and His saints Rule the nations of the world from Jerusalem, the newly-established headquarters of the Kingdom of God for a thousand years], and the Last Great Day [Judgment Day]. (see also Lev.23)

The fast is but a moment of humble recognition of our Creator that God demands now by His creation. A single 24-hour period out of our year, that's recorded to be observed in His Word in Leviticus 16:29. A 24-hour day of fasting, abasing and chastening of the self and of humble spiritual reflection that looks not to the present and the temporal, but to the future and to Eternity.