The Bible

 

Psalms 104:14

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14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

Commentary

 

Smoke

  

In Genesis 15:17, this signifies the thickest falsity. (Arcana Coelestia 1861)

In Genesis 19:28, this signifies the state of falsity from the state of evil within the church. (Arcana Coelestia 2456)

In Exodus 19:18, this signifies the appearance of heavenly good in the greatest obscurity. (Arcana Coelestia 8819)

'Smoke,' as in Exodus 20, signifies divine truth, or the Word in its external form.

'Smoke of a great furnace,' as in Revelation 9:2, signifies the falsities of lust streaming out from evil loves.

In Revelation 9:17, 'smoke' signifies the pride of self-ascribed intelligence.

'Smoke of her burning,' as in Revelation 18:18, signifies damnation as a result of adulterating and profaning the Word.

In general, 'smoke' signifies divine truth in extremes, because 'fire' which gives off smoke, signifies love. 'Smoke' also signifies the same thing as 'cloud' in many places.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 9 [2]; Apocalypse Revealed 674-1; Revelation 2, 4, 8, 8:4)


From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2456

Study this Passage

  
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2456. Verse 27-29 And Abraham rose up in the early morning, [and went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah. And he looked out towards the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and towards the whole face of the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. And so it was, when God was destroying the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot away out of the midst of the overthrowing when He was overthrowing the cities in which Lot dwelt.

'Abraham rose up in the early morning' means the Lord's thought concerning the final period, 'Abraham' here, as previously, meaning the Lord during that state. '[And went] to the place where he had stood before Jehovah' means a state of perception and of thought which He had already experienced before, 'place' meaning state. 'And he looked out towards the face of Sodom and Gomorrah' means thought concerning the interior state of these people as to evil and falsity. 'And towards the whole face of the land of the plain' means all the interior states resulting from this. 'And he saw, and behold the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace' means a state of falsity, meant by 'the smoke', arising out of a state of evil, meant by 'the furnace', inside the Church, meant by 'the land'. 'And so it was, when God was destroying the cities of the plain' means when they perished through falsities deriving from evil, which are meant by 'the cities of the plain'. 'That God remembered Abraham' means salvation achieved through the Lord's Divine Essence united to His Human 'Essence. 'And sent Lot away out of the midst of the overthrowing' means the salvation of those governed by good and of those governed by truth that has good within it, all of whom here are meant by 'Lot'. 'When He was overthrowing the cities' means when those perished who were governed by falsities deriving from evils. 'In which Lot dwelt' means that even those also who were saved were governed by such falsities.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.