Fasting and the Day of Atonement

Fasting is originally documented in the Old Testament as a requisite practice on the Day of Atonement.  Customs observed on the Day of Atonement included sacrifice by the garmented High Priest of several beasts (i.e. bullock, goat, and ram, for different purposes) and the casting out of a he-goat into the wilderness.  Sequences of sacrifice proceeded as follows (pay particular atention to the series: personal and familial, then congregational; the affect of the sacrifices expands in jurisdiction):

1.  A personal sin offering (bullock) and familial burnt offering (ram)
2. A congregational sin offering (one of two he-goats, chosen by the casting of lots) and a congregational burnt offering (ram)
3. One of the two he-goats was brought to the altar and the congregational sins were confessed upon it, after which it was released into the wilderness.

Upon my study of this topic, a slight mumbling of remembrance from my seminary years suggested that the goat who was released into the wilderness signified Christ as the scape-goat and bearer of our sins.  Upon closer inspection, this appears not to be the case.

There were two he-goats.  Both were brought to the altar, and one was chosen, by the casting of lots, as the One to be sacrificed.  The casting of lots in ancient days was the method by which the people believed the decisions of the Heavens were perpetuated on earth. The he-goat chosen for sacrifice was approved by the will of the Father.  Pursuant, One was offered as a sacrifice for sin; the other was banished into the wilderness.

The he-goat banished into the wilderness was for, according to the Bible Dictionary, Azazel.  Azazel is translated as the completely 'separate one,' and the 'evil spirit dwelling in the wilderness.'  The purpose of the banishing of the he-goat was to signify that the sins of the congregation no longer held any efficacy- they were submitted outside the influence of the justice of God, banished to a powerless state, and left to die with the dark and unknown dangers.  The scapegoat was not symbolic of Christ, the sacrificed he-goat, whose blood wiped on the east side of the altar sanctified the Priesthood, whose sacrifice sanctified the Holy of Holies, is a more appropriate symbol of Christ.

The day of Atonement, therefore, is the literal enactment of the process which was initiated in the pre-mortal realm, and is consummated with each person's step toward repentance via the Atonement.  One was chosen to redeem the world, another is left ungloried, unhallowed, and in the unknown in the wilderness.

Now, what does this have anything to do with fasting?

Leviticus 23: 27-28 teaches,

“Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.” — 

 This day was a holy convocation, approached in fasting.  It was the atonement of sins, facilitated by repentance.  One may surmise that the attitude of fasting is an attitude of repentance. If fasting is a form of repentance, what then, means the rending of garments sackcloth, and refraining from washing the face or anointing the head which accompanied its practice in the Old Testament?  Why remove those ceremonial robes and statutes which signify Priesthood royalty?

Without the garments (2 Sam. 12:20), by donning the sackcloth (1 Kings 21:27), and refraining from the washing and anointing (Isaiah 58:5), one is physically showing the state of degradedness into which sin automatically projects the sinner.  The sinner, by virtue of his sin, is left desolate from the mercy of God.  The sin's consequence is to literally remove the power and protective hand of the Power of the Old Testament from the sinner.

In fasting, with head bowed, and negligence to the satiating of the worldly appetite, we could learn that going without food is akin to going without the protection of the robes of righteousness. Going without food is a physical manifestation of the deprivation of the mercies of Heaven.  Going without food is symbolic of the spiritual state one encounters when entrenched in sin.

Fasting, therefore, as are all things of Heaven, is symbolic.  Consider the context of the repentant attitude of fasting when coupled with the process of the Atonement-- as it was first recorded in the books of scripture.  It may change your next fast Sunday.