The Bible

 

Genesis 20

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1 And Abraham journeyeth from thence toward the land of the south, and dwelleth between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourneth in Gerar;

2 and Abraham saith concerning Sarah his wife, `She is my sister;' and Abimelech king of Gerar sendeth and taketh Sarah.

3 And God cometh in unto Abimelech in a dream of the night, and saith to him, `Lo, thou [art] a dead man, because of the woman whom thou hast taken -- and she married to a husband.'

4 And Abimelech hath not drawn near unto her, and he saith, `Lord, also a righteous nation dost thou slay?

5 hath not he himself said to me, She [is] my sister! and she, even she herself, said, He [is] my brother; in the integrity of my heart, and in the innocency of my hands, I have done this.'

6 And God saith unto him in the dream, `Yea, I -- I have known that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I withhold thee, even I, from sinning against Me, therefore I have not suffered thee to come against her;

7 and now send back the man's wife, for he [is] inspired, and he doth pray for thee, and live thou; and if thou do not send back, know that dying thou dost die, thou, and all that thou hast.'

8 And Abimelech riseth early in the morning, and calleth for all his servants, and speaketh all these words in their ears; and the men fear exceedingly;

9 and Abimelech calleth for Abraham, and saith to him, `What hast thou done to us? and what have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought upon me, and upon my kingdom, a great sin? works which are not done thou hast done with me.'

10 Abimelech also saith unto Abraham, `What hast thou seen that thou hast done this thing?'

11 And Abraham saith, `Because I said, `Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they have slain me for the sake of my wife;

12 and also, truly she is my sister, daughter of my father, only not daughter of my mother, and she becometh my wife;

13 and it cometh to pass, when God hath caused me to wander from my father's house, that I say to her, This [is] thy kindness which thou dost with me: at every place whither we come, say of me, He [is] my brother.'

14 And Abimelech taketh sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids, and giveth to Abraham, and sendeth back to him Sarah his wife;

15 and Abimelech saith, `Lo, my land [is] before thee, where it is good in thine eyes, dwell;'

16 and to Sarah he hath said, `Lo, I have given a thousand silverlings to thy brother; lo, it is to thee a covering of eyes, to all who are with thee;' and by all this she is reasoned with.

17 And Abraham prayeth unto God, and God healeth Abimelech and his wife, and his handmaids, and they bear:

18 for Jehovah restraining had restrained every womb of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #422

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422. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. (9:2) This symbolizes falsities accompanying the lusts of the natural self springing from those people's evil loves.

The bottomless pit symbolizes the hell described just above in no. 421. The smoke from it symbolizes falsities arising from lusts, and because the smoke is said to be like that of a great furnace, it means falsities accompanying lusts springing from evil loves, inasmuch as fire symbolizes love (no. 468), and the fire of hell, evil love (no. 494). A great furnace has the same symbolism, since it smokes owing to fire.

Spirits of hell are not caught up in any material fire, but in a spiritual fire, which is the fire of their love. Consequently they do not feel any other fire. On this subject, see the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 134 566-575.

When any love is aroused in the spiritual world, it appears at a distance like fire - in the hells like a brightly burning fire, and outside the hells like the smoke of a conflagration or the smoke of a furnace.

Falsities accompanying lusts springing from evil loves are described also elsewhere in the Word by smoke from a fire or from a furnace or oven, as in the following places:

(Abraham) looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah..., and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. (Genesis 19:28)

...the sun went down and it was dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between the pieces. (Genesis 15:17)

...they sin more and more... Therefore they shall be... like smoke from a flue. (Hosea 13:2-3)

...the wicked shall perish... In smoke they shall be consumed. (Psalms 37:20)

I will show wonders in heaven and on the earth: ...fire and pillars of smoke. (Joel 2:30)

(They) will cast (the evil) into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42, 49-50)

And elsewhere.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Genesis 15:17

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17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.