But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Ver. 17. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, &c.] Not but that a man is bound at such a time to abridge himself of the comforts and delights of life, whence it is called a day of restraint, Joel 2:15, and of afflicting the soul. a The Ninevites sat in sackcloth, as unworthy of any covering. Others put ashes on their heads, in token that they deserved to be as far under as now they were above ground. David lay on the earth, 2 Samuel 12:16. Daniel laid aside all delights of sense, as music, mirth, perfumes, ointments, &c. Our Saviour fasted to the humbling of his soul, Psalms 35:13, weakening of his knees, Psalms 109:24, macerating and enfeebling of his body, Psalms 69:10. And when upon the cross they offered him wine mingled with myrrh, to stupefy him and make him less sensible of his pain, he received it not, Mark 15:23. To teach us (saith a learned interpreter) in our extraordinary humiliations for our sins, to forbear all such refreshments as might hinder the course of our just griefs. "Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness," James 4:9, such a heaviness as may be seen in the countenance, as the word importeth. b But when our Saviour biddeth anoint the head, at such a time, and wash the face, it is, as he expounds himself, "that we may not appear to men to fast:" in a private fast, eschewing wholly the show: in a public, not performing to the show, or to this end, that we may be seen.
a Vox Hebraica Tsom, significat affligere: unde Aben Ezra ait, ubicunque in scripturis afflictio animae invenitur, ibi intelligitur ieiunium. Graeci dicunt νηστειαν α νη particula privante, et στενομαι quod est validum et firmum esse. Pet. Mart. Alii α νη et εσθιειν, cibum non comedere.
b κατηφεια. Tristitia cum vultus demissione. Badaeus. Απο του κατω φαη Βαλλειν. Ne te quaesiveris extra.