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Abomination(s)
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a-bom-i-na'-shun (to'ebhah)
RELATED: Idol(s)
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
This
word is used,
To express the idea that the Egyptians considered themselves as defiled when they
ate with strangers ( Genesis
43:32 ). The Jews subsequently followed the same practice, holding it unlawful
to eat or drink with foreigners ( John
18:28 ; Acts
10:28 ; 11:3
).
Every shepherd was "an abomination" unto the Egyptians ( Genesis
46:34 ). This aversion to shepherds, such as the Hebrews, arose probably from
the fact that Lower and Middle Egypt had formerly been held in oppressive subjection
by a tribe of nomad shepherds (the Hyksos), who had only recently been expelled,
and partly also perhaps from this other fact that the Egyptians detested the lawless
habits of these wandering shepherds.
Pharaoh was so moved by the fourth plague, that while he refused the demand of
Moses, he offered a compromise, granting to the Israelites permission to hold
their festival and offer their sacrifices in Egypt. This permission could not
be accepted, because Moses said they would have to sacrifice "the abomination
of the Egyptians" ( Exodus
8:26 ); i.e., the cow or ox, which all the Egyptians held as sacred, and which
they regarded it as sacrilegious to kill.
( Daniel
11:31 ), in that section of his prophecies which is generally interpreted
as referring to the fearful calamities that were to fall on the Jews in the time
of Antiochus Epiphanes, says, "And they shall place the abomination that maketh
desolate." Antiochus Epiphanes caused an altar to be erected on the altar of burnt-offering,
on which sacrifices were offered to Jupiter Olympus. (Compare 1
Macc 1:57 ). This was the abomination of the desolation of Jerusalem.
The same language is employed in Daniel
9:27 (Compare Matthew
24:15 ), where the reference is probably to the image-crowned standards which
the Romans set up at the east gate of the temple (A.D. 70), and to which they
paid idolatrous honours. "Almost the entire religion of the Roman camp consisted
in worshipping the ensign, swearing by the ensign, and in preferring the ensign
before all other gods." These ensigns were an "abomination" to the Jews, the "abomination
of desolation."
This word is also used symbolically of sin in general ( Isaiah
66:3 ); an idol ( Isaiah
44:19 ); the ceremonies of the apostate Church of Rome ( Revelation
17:4 ); a detestable act ( Ezekiel
22:11 ).
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(no entry)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
a-bom-i-na'-shun
(piggul, to'ebhah, sheqets (shiqquts)):
Three
distinct Hebrew words are rendered in the English Bible by "abomination," or "abominable
thing," referring (except in Genesis 43:32 ; 46:34) to things or practices abhorrent
to Yahweh, and opposed to the ritual or moral requirements of His religion. It
would be well if these words could be distinguished in translation, as they denote
different degrees of abhorrence or loathsomeness.
The word most used for this idea by the Hebrews and indicating the highest degree
of abomination is to'ebhah, meaning primarily that which offends the religious
sense of a people. When it is said, for example, "The Egyptians might not eat
bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians," this is
the word used; the significance being that the Hebrews were repugnant to the Egyptians
as foreigners, as of an inferior caste, and especially as shepherds (Genesis 46:34).
The feeling of the Egyptians for the Greeks was likewise one of repugnance. Herodotus
(ii.41) says the Egyptians would not kiss a Greek on the mouth, or use his dish,
or taste meat cut with the knife of a Greek.
Among the objects described in the Old Testament as "abominations" in this sense
are heathen gods, such as Ashtoreth (Astarte), Chemosh, Milcom, the "abominations"
of the Zidonians (Phoenicians), Moabites, and Ammonites, respectively (2 Kings
23:13), and everything connected with the worship of such gods. When Pharaoh,
remonstrating against the departure of the children of Israel, exhorted them to
offer sacrifices to their God in Egypt, Moses said: "Shall we sacrifice the abomination
of the Egyptians (i.e. the animals worshipped by them which were taboo, to'ebhah,
to the Israelites) before their eyes, and will they not stone us?" (Exodus 8:26).
It is to be noted that, not only the heathen idol itself, but anything offered
to or associated with the idol, all the paraphernalia of the forbidden cult, was
called an "abomination," for it "is an abomination to Yahweh thy God" (Deuteronomy
7:25 , 26). The Deuteronomic writer here adds, in terms quite significant of the
point of view and the spirit of the whole law: 'Neither shalt thou bring an abomination
into thy house and thus become a thing set apart (cherem = tabooed) like unto
it; thou shalt utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is a thing set apart'
(tabooed). To'ebhah is even used as synonymous with "idol" or heathen deity, as
in Isaiah 44:19 ; Deuteronomy 32:16 ; 2 Kings 23:13 ; and especially Exodus 8:22.
Everything akin to magic or divination is likewise an abomination to'ebhah; as
are sexual transgressions (Deuteronomy 22:5 ; 23:18 ; 24:4), especially incest
and other unnatural offenses: "For all these abominations have the men of the
land done, that were before you" (Leviticus 18:27 ; compare Ezekiel 8:15). It
is to be noted, however, that the word takes on in the later usage a higher ethical
and spiritual meaning: as where "divers measures, a great and a small," are forbidden
(Deuteronomy 25:14 - 16); and in Proverbs where "lying lips" (Proverbs
12:22), "the proud in heart" (Proverbs
16:5), "the way of the wicked" (Proverbs
15:9), "evil devices" (Proverbs
15:26), and "he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous"
(Proverbs
17:15), are said to be an abomination in God's sight. At last prophet and
sage are found to unite in declaring that any sacrifice, however free from physical
blemish, if offered without purity of motive, is an abomination: 'Bring no more
an oblation of falsehood--an incense of abomination it is to me' (Isaiah 1:13;
compare Jeremiah 7:10). "The sacrifice of the wicked" and the prayer of him "that
turneth away his ear from hearing the law," are equally an abomination (see Proverbs
15:8 ; 21:27;
28:9).
Another word rendered "abomination" in the King James Version is sheqets or shiqquts.
It expresses generally a somewhat less degree of horror or religious aversion
than [to'ebhah], but sometimes seems to stand about on a level with it in meaning.
In Deuteronomy 14:3, for example, we have the command, "Thou shalt not eat any
abominable thing," as introductory to the laws prohibiting the use of the unclean
animals (see CLEAN; UNCLEANNESS), and the word there used is [to'ebhah]. But in
Leviticus 11:10 - 13 , 20 , 23 , 41 , 42 ; Isaiah 66:17 ; and in Ezekiel 8:10
sheqets is the word used and likewise applied to the prohibited animals; as also
in Leviticus 11:43 sheqets is used when it is commanded, "Ye shall not make yourselves
abominable." Then sheqets is often used parallel to or together with to'ebhah
of that which should be held as detestable, as for instance, of idols and idolatrous
practices (see especially Deuteronomy 29:17 ; Hosea 9:10 ; Jeremiah 4:1 ; 13:27
; 16:18 ; Ezekiel 11:18 - 21 ; 20:7 , 8). It is used exactly as [to'ebhah] is
used as applied to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, which is spoken of as the
detestable thing sheqets of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:5). Still even in such cases
to'ebhah seems to be the stronger word and to express that which is in the highest
degree abhorrent.
The other word used to express a somewhat kindred idea of abhorrence and translated
"abomination" in the King James Version is piggul; but it is used in the Hebrew
Bible only of sacrificial flesh that has become stale, putrid, tainted (see Leviticus
7:18 ; 19:7 ; Ezekiel 4:14 ; Isaiah 65:4). Driver maintains that it occurs only
as a "technical term for such state sacrificial flesh as has not been eaten within
the prescribed time," and, accordingly, he would everywhere render it specifically
"refuse meat." Compare lechem megho'al, "the loaths ome bread" (from ga'al, "to
loathe") Malachi 1:7. A chief interest in the subject for Christians grows out
of the use of the term in the expression "abomination of desolation" (Matthew
24:15 and Mark 13:14), which see.
See also ABHOR:
Tags:
abomination, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define
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