SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:17
Mas t, cuando ayunes, unge tu cabeza y lava tu rostro;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:17
Verse 17. Anoint thine head and wash thy face] These were forbidden in the Jewish canon on days of fasting and humiliation; and hypocrites availed themselves of this ordinance, that they might appear to fast. Our Lord, therefore, cautions us against this: as if he had said, Affect nothing-dress in thy ordinary manner, and let the whole of thy deportment prove that thou desirest to recommend my soul to God, and not thy face to men. That factitious mourning, which consists in putting on black clothes, crapes, &c., is utterly inconsistent with the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ; and if practised in reference to spiritual matters, is certainly forbidden here: but sin is so common, and so boldly persisted in, that not even a crape is put on, as an evidence of deploring its influence, or of sorrow for having committed it.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 17. But thou, when thou fastest , etc.] Christ allows of fasting, but what is of a quite different kind from that of the Jews; which lay not in an outward abstinence from food, and other conveniences of life, and refreshments of nature; but in an abstinence from sin, in acknowledgment and confession of it; and in the exercise of faith and hope in God, as a God pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin; wherefore cheerfulness, and a free use of the creatures, without an abuse of them, best became such persons. Anoint thine head, and wash thy face ; directly contrary to the Jewish canons, which forbid these things, with others, on fast days: On the day of atonement, (say they,) a man is forbidden eating and drinking, hkysbwhxyjrbw and washing and anointing, and putting on of shoes, and the use of the bed. And the same were forbidden on other fasts: in anointings, the head was anointed first, and this rule and reason are given for it: he that would anoint his whole body, hlyjt war s , let him anoint his head first, because it is king over all its members f424 .
Anointing and washing were signs of cheerfulness and joy; (see Ruth 3:3 2 Samuel 12:20).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 16-18 - Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for othe duties. Fasting is the humbling of the soul, Ps 35:13; that is the inside of the duty; let that, therefore, be thy principal care, and a to the outside of it, covet not to let it be seen. God sees in secret and will reward openly.
Greek Textus Receptus
συ 4771 P-2NS δε 1161 CONJ νηστευων 3522 5723 V-PAP-NSM αλειψαι 218 5669 V-AMM-2S σου 4675 P-2GS την 3588 T-ASF κεφαλην 2776 N-ASF και 2532 CONJ το 3588 T-ASN προσωπον 4383 N-ASN σου 4675 P-2GS νιψαι 3538 5669 V-AMM-2S
