Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
Ezra has gathered the returning exiles by the river Ahava. A long and dangerous journey to Jerusalem lies ahead, and he calls the whole company to fast. What he asks for is striking. So is what he refuses to ask for. The verse also raises a question: what does humbling ourselves before God achieve?
Fasting as humbling, not as a demand for power
The fast is not a technique for getting strength. One writer says plainly what the fast was for:
William Kelly"Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God." That is the point. They are not asking for power. They are humbling themselves before God. It is a lowering of spirit before the Lord, so that the Lord may be able to entrust us with a blessing.
The outward sign of dependence
The fast was a physical act, and it carried a meaning. It covered two needs at once: the way to go, and safety along it. Older versions read "a right way" where the ESV reads "a safe journey", so guidance is in view too.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe proclaimed a fast. The man of God felt the need to seek God's face and His gracious protection. The fasting was the outward sign of deep humbling. It also expressed their dependence, as they sought from Him "a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods." The gathered company saw that they needed guidance as well as protection, and they trusted the LORD for both.
Yesterday's help is no substitute
God had already helped them on the way to this point. That earlier help did not settle the next stage of the road.
F. B. HoleEzra recognized, however, that God had clearly helped them in the past. That did not free them from depending on Him now. So they had to seek His face again before they started. Following the customs of the law, he proclaimed a fast, so that they might humble their souls before God and seek from Him the right way for their journey.
A fast that sifted the company
Not everyone who joined the caravan came for the same reason. Being humbled before God exposes what a person is really after. The writer calls our natural self "the flesh".
Edward DennettThe flesh cannot be used, in any shape or form, in the Lord's service. Only when we are truly cut off from everything it feeds on, and are humbled in the presence of God, do our motives, aims and goals get tested and come to light. So among those who had gathered around Ezra, some may have been drawn by other things than the good of the house of their God... Ezra, then, wanted everyone searched by the light of God's holy presence. They would learn that nothing could protect and guide them on their journey but the good hand of their God.
Weakness that refuses borrowed weapons
The trouble on the road is not only Ezra's. One writer applies the scene to our own difficulties.
H. L. RossierThe enemy lies in wait for us. He puts himself between us and a simple duty we have to carry out... We have no strength to resist him... Satan would like to push us into meeting him with the king's "band of soldiers and horsemen" — with the weapons of the flesh. He knows he will beat us if we fight him with his own weapons. What should we do? The same thing Ezra did. Let us keep on with fasting, humbling and prayer, and we may be certain that God will answer us.
Why prayer and fasting are paired
Ezra prayed as well as fasted. One writer defines each, quoting the Lord's words from an older translation.
A J PollockNote this: Ezra and his little band prayed and fasted. The two go together. It is a principle that runs right through Scripture. When the disciples had no power to act in the face of evil, the Lord gently rebuked them, saying, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." As it has been well put, prayer is bringing God in, and fasting is shutting man out.
Doing this together, not only alone
Ezra called the whole company to fast, not himself alone. One writer asks what that would mean for work God's people share.
Edward DennettOur question is about waiting on God together, with fasting, before we start work that God's people share an interest in. The early Church understood this. We read, "There were in the church at Antioch prophets... As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them." (Acts 13:1-2.) Suppose that practice were revived in the power of the Holy Spirit — copying it without that power would be worse than useless. Then we could expect far larger results from service in teaching and ministry.
Summary
- Humbling first. The fast was not a request for power but a lowering of spirit — the state in which God can entrust a blessing.
- Sifting next. Time in God's presence tests motives and shows that nothing but His good hand will carry a journey or a service.
- Shutting man out. Prayer brings God in; fasting shuts man out — which is why the two always travel together.
- Whole household covered. They asked for two things: the right way, and safety on it. The request took in their children and all they owned.
- Again, and together. Past help never excuses us from seeking His face for the next stage. Ezra sought it with the whole company, before the work began.