Abomination (Bible)

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This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.


Abomination (Latin abominatus, past participle of abominari, "to deprecate as an ill omen") English term used to translate the Biblical term תֹּועֵבָה tōʻēḇā or to'ba (noun) or ta'ab (verb).

The term in English signifies that which is exceptionally loathsome, hateful, wicked, or vile. In Biblical terms to'ba does not carry the same sense of exceptionalism as the English term. It simply signifies that which is forbidden or unclean according to the religion.

Linguistically it is therefore close in meaning to the Polynesian term taboo or tapu, signifying that which is forbidden, should be left alone and not touched, or (for some items) brings death by the act of touching.

This article examines the term as it is used in English translations of the Bible, and also the actual senses of the words which are being translated into this term in English.

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[edit] Analysis of the term

Look up abomination, taboo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Abomination in the Biblical sense of the word refers to:

  1. 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 Upper and Lower Egypt had formerly been held in oppressive subjection by the Hyksos (a tribe of nomad shepherds), who had only recently been expelled, and partly also perhaps from this other fact that the people of Egypt detested the nomadic habits of these wandering shepherds.
  2. 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 so regarded as sacrilegious to kill.
  3. In Daniel's prophecies in Daniel 11:31, it is generally interpreted as referring to the fearful calamities that were to fall on the Jews in the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, saying "And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate."
  4. In his campaign of Hellenization, Antiochus caused an altar to be erected on the altar for burnt-offerings of the Second Temple, on which sacrifices were offered to Jupiter Olympus. (Comp. 1 Maccabees 1:54). Following the wording of Daniel 9:27, this was the abomination of desolation of Jerusalem. In Matthew 24:15, 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 homage. "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."
  5. Abomination is also used for sin in general (Isaiah 66:3); or an idol (Isaiah 44:19); or adultery (Ezekiel 22:11).
  6. Proverbs 6:16 - 18 lists six things which are also abominations: "haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief."
  7. The word "abomination" is also used in Jewish (and Christian Old Testament) scriptures to refer to male homosexual activity (Leviticus 18:22), Leviticus 20:13), idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13), cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5), cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1), and dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22).
  8. It is also used for eating seafood that lacks fins and scales (Leviticus 11:11), eating certain birds of prey, including bats (Leviticus 11:12) and all insects (Leviticus 11:23 and 11:41) and other biblically unclean animals (Leviticus 20:25); remarrying the person one previously divorced (Deuteronomy 24:4); telling lies (Proverbs 12:22); being proud in heart (Proverbs 16:5); justifying the wicked (Proverbs 17:15); and cheating in business (Proverbs 20:10 and Proverbs 20:23).

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