Fasting was obligatory on the Day of Atonement according to the law of Moses. But the Jews recognized more days of fasting and even maintained calendars for days on which people could or could not fast. There was no fasting on feast days and Sabbaths. But it became the rule that Mondays and Thursdays were days of fasting for Jews who wanted to devote themselves to fasting and prayer. The Pharisees and the disciples of the Baptist expected the Messiah and fasted as they prayed for his coming. Their fasting was an aspect of the observance of the ecclesiastical feasts and a component of the ecclesiastical calendar. That was especially true of days of fasting on which people remembered events from the past, such as the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 9:1–3; Zechariah 7:1–6). So the question arose why Jesus and his disciples did not also devote themselves to these days of remembrance and prayer for deliverance, but instead acted like less devoted Jews and even ate and drank with them.¹