I found a recurring theme in all of the passages below:
1/16/11 - 4:44 AM - Signs of Life in the Midst of Death
2 Kings 4:38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, "Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets." 39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were. 40 And they poured out some for the men to eat. But while they were eating of the stew, they cried out, "O man of God, there is death in the pot!" And they could not eat it. 41 He said, "Then bring flour." And he threw it into the pot and said, "Pour some out for the men, that they may eat." And there was no harm in the pot. 42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And Elisha said, "Give to the men, that they may eat." 43 But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" So he repeated, "Give them to the men, that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'" 44 So he set it before them. And they ate and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.
2 Kings 2:21 Then he went to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, "Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it."
Exodus 15:25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Psalms 44:1 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!
Psalms 74:12 Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
Isaiah 4:1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach." 2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. 5 Then the LORD will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
Isaiah 44:1"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. 5 This one will say, 'I am the LORD’s,' another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, 'The LORD’s,' and name himself by the name of Israel."
444: Esther, Book Of: (Smith’s Bible Names Dictionary)
One of the latest of the canonical books of Scripture, having been written late in the reign of Xerxes, or early in that of his son Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 444, 434). The author is not known. The book of Esther is placed among the hagiographa by the Jews, and in that first portion of them which they call "the five rolls." It is written on a single roll, sin a dramatic style, and is read through by the Jews in their synagogues at the feast of Purim, when it is said that the names of Haman's sons are read rapidly all in one breath, to signify that they were all hanged at the same time; while at every mention of Haman the audience stamp and shout and hiss, and the children spring rattles. It has often been remarked as a peculiarity of this book that the name of God does not once occur in it. Schaff gives as the reason for this that it was to permit the reading of the book at the hilarious and noisy festival of Purim, without irreverence. The style of writing is remarkably chaste and simple. It does not in the least savor of romance. The Hebrew is very like that of Ezra and parts of the Chronicles; generally pure, but mixed with some words of Persian origin and some of the Chaldaic affinity. In short it is just what one would expect to find in a work of the age to which the book of Esther professes to belong.
