Mat 6:16-18 | Abbott | STEP | Fast. When oppressed with grief, we have little appetite for food. Hence fasting is the natural expression of grief. If unfeigned sorrow for sin do not accompany it, it is of no avail.— Hypocrites; false pretenders to piety.— Disfigure their faces. Paleness and emaciation, and an air of dejection, are the consequences of long abstinence from food. The hypocrites endeavored, in various ways, to assume such appearances.

Matthew 6:16-18

Fast. When oppressed with grief, we have little appetite for food. Hence fasting is the natural expression of grief. If unfeigned sorrow for sin do not accompany it, it is of no avail.—Hypocrites; false pretenders to piety.—Disfigure their faces. Paleness and emaciation, and an air of dejection, are the consequences of long abstinence from food. The hypocrites endeavored, in various ways, to assume such appearances.

Anoint thine head; that is, as usual; this being then customary among the Jews. The meaning is, do nothing to make an outward display of penitence and mortification.