KING JAMES BIBLE DICTIONARY

This word is used,

1. 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).

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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. (Comp. 1 Macc. 1.57). This was the abomination of the desolation of Jerusalem. The same language is employed in Daniel 9:27 (comp. 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 (44:19); the ceremonies of the apostate Church of Rome (Revelation 17:4); a detestable act (Ezekiel 22:11).

Things that are, to God:

Idolatry
Deuteronomy 7:25; Deuteronomy 27:15; Deuteronomy 32:16

Unjust weights and measures
Deuteronomy 25:13-16; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 20:23

Uncleanness
Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Deuteronomy 24:4

Incest
Leviticus 18:6-18

Lying with a woman in her menses
Leviticus 18:19

Adultery
Leviticus 18:20

Sodomy
Leviticus 18:22-23

Offering seed to Molech
Leviticus 18:21

Offering children in sacrifice
Deuteronomy 18:10

Sorcery and Necromancy
Deuteronomy 18:10-11

The hire of a whore and price of a dog, as a consecrated gift
Deuteronomy 23:18

Unclassified scriptures relating to
Deuteronomy 22:5; Proverbs 3:32; Proverbs 6:16-19; Proverbs 8:7; Proverbs 11:20; Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 15:8-9; Proverbs 15:26; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 17:15; Proverbs 20:10; Proverbs 20:23; Proverbs 21:27; Proverbs 24:9; Proverbs 28:9; Proverbs 29:27

ABOMINA'TION, noun

1. Extreme hatred; detestation.

2. The object of detestation, a common signification in scripture.

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 15:8.

3. Hence, defilement, pollution, in a physical sense, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements, idols and idolatry, are called abominations. The Jews were an abomination to the Egyptians; and the sacred animals of the Egyptians were an abomination to the Jews. The Roman army is called the abomination of desolation. Matthew 24:15. In short, whatever is an object of extreme hatred, is called an abomination

Mentioned by our Saviour, (Matthew 24:15) as a sign of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, with reference to (Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11) The prophecy referred ultimately to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and consequently the "abomination" must describe some occurrence connected with that event. It appears most probable that the profanities of the Zealots constituted the abomination, which was the sign of the impending ruin; but most people refer it to the standards or banners of the Roman army. They were abomination because there were idolatrous images upon them.