As always, a few pertinent quotes will help to document this fact. Virtually nobody who has read the Old Testament will deny that the ancient Jews did acts of penance—external deeds of sorrow and reparation for sins—as part of their spiritual discipline.
Thus before the time of Christ we read:
"Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before Yahweh. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to Yahweh.' (Judges 20:26)
"When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite: 'Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son'" (1 Kings 21:27-29)
"Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of Yahweh, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from Yahweh; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him" (2 Chronicles 20:3-4)
"There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, 'The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.' So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer" (Ezra 8:21-23).
"The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.' When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 1:1-4).
"The Lord, Yahweh Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! 'Let us eat and drink,' you say, 'for tomorrow we die!'" (Isaiah 22:12-13).
"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3).
"Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of Yahweh your God, and cry out to Yahweh" (Joel 1:13-14)
"'Even now,' declares Yahweh, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' . . . Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly" (Joel 2:12, 15).
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