2 Samuel 22:9

Smoke arose in his nostril,

and fire from his mouth did devour:

hot coals came burning from him.

The startling boldness of the language will be intelligible if the distinctive character of Hebrew symbolism is borne in mind. It is no "gross anthropomorphism," for the Psalmist did not intend that the mind's eye should clothe his figure in a concrete form. His aim is vividly to express the manifestation of the wrath of God, and he does so in figures which are intended to remain as purely mental conceptions, not to be realised as though God appeared in any visible shape. See some excellent remarks in Archbishop Trench's Comm. on the Epistles to the Seven Churches, p. 43.

a smoke The outward sign of the pent-up fires of wrath. So anger is said to smoke(Psalms 74:1; Psalms 80:4 marg.). This bold figure is suggested by the panting and snorting of an angry animal. Cp. Job 41:20; in illustration of which Mr Cox quotes from Bertram's Travels in Carolina: "I perceived a crocodile rush from a small lake … Thick smoke came with a thundering noise from his nostrils." Martial speaks of fumantem nasum ursi"the smoking nostril of an angry bear" (Epigr.vi. 64. 28).

fire Compare again Job's description of Leviathan (Job 41:19-21). Fire is the constant emblem of the consuming wrath of God. See Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalms 97:3; Hebrews 12:29.

coals The fiery messengers of vengeance. Cp. Psalms 140:10.