The smoke of the pit: “ And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened - -9:2. The pit is the infernal underworld, the dark abode of demons (Luke 8:31). Here the angel has the “ key” to open it--unloose it--hence, an evil angel, in contrast with the angel with the “ chain” in chapter 20, to bind. The smoke of the pit “ as a furnace,” similar to destruction that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:28), the smoke of a pit sending forth effects of pollution and contamination. Darkening the sun and the air: This was not the eclipse of the sun as in previous symbols, but the veiling of the sun “ by reason of the smoke of the pit.” Here also instead of the sun and the moon being darkened, as before, it is the sun and the air. As noted under the classification of symbols in the preview, the air is the symbol denoting the sphere of life and influence. As the blackout of the sun symbolized the dark distress that hovered over the land, the blackened air, “ by reason of the smoke of the pit,” signifies with the same vividity the corruption of the whole sphere of life by this figure of the complete pollution of the air by the smoke of the infernal pit.