Abomination (Hastings' Dictionary)

Four separate Heb. words are thus rendered in OT (sometimes with the variation abominable thing), the application of which is in many respects very difTerent. (1) The commonest of these words is '^^)^^, which expresses most generally the idea of something loathed (cf. the verb, Mic 3"), esp. on religious grounds : thus Gn 43" ' to eat food with the Hebrews is an abomination to the Egyptians,' — a strong ex- pression of the exclusiveness with which the Egyptians viewed foreigners, esp.

such as had no regard for their religious scruples ; thus, on account of their veneration for the cow (which was sacred to Isis), they would not use the knife or cooking utensil of a Greek, which might have been employed in preparing the flesh of a cow as food (Hat. ii. 41); Gn 46'* 'every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians,' — shepherds, viz.

, were ranked, it seems, with the /3ou«6Xoi, whose occupation was deemed a degrading one, who from living with their herds in reed cottages on the marshes wore called marshmen, and who are depicted on the monuments as dirty, unshaven, poorly clad, and even as dwarfs and deformed (cf. Del. ad loc. ; Birch-Wilkinson, Atic. Eg. 1878, i. 288 f., ii. 444 ; Wiedemann, Herodots zweites Buck, 1890, p. 371 f. ; Erman, Life in Atic. Eg. p.

439) ; Ex 8" <*' the Israelites are represented as unwilling to sacrifice ' the abomination of the Egyptians ' in Egypt itself, with allusion, probably, to animals wliicli the Egyptians abstained religiously from sacrificing, though they were sacrificed freely by the Hebrews, as the cow, which was sacred tolsis, the bull, unless it was pronounced by the priests to be KaOapis, or free from the sacred marks of Apis (Herodotus' statements on this point are not entirely borne out by the monuments, but there seems to be some foundation for them), sheep at Thebes, and goats [according to Wiedemann, an error for rams] in Mendes (Hdt.

ii. 38, 41, 42, 46; cf. Birch-Wilk. ii. 460, iii. 108 f., 304 f. ; Wiede- mann, I.e. pp. 180-182, 183, 187 f., 196 f., 218 f.) Two special usages may be noted : (a) the phrase Jehovah s abomination, of idolatry or practices connected with it, or of characters or acts morally displeasing to God, Dt 1^ W^ W 18'' 22" 23'9|'»l 25' 27" (cf. 24<, Lk 16"), Pr 3" 11'- > 12-=i 158-»-*i 16" 17" 20"'-" (comp. in a Phcen. inscription, ap. Driver, Samuel, p.

xxvi, the expression ''Asn- toreth's abomination,' of the violation of a tomb) ; (6) esp. in the plur., of heathen or immoral practices, urincipally in H and Ezk, as Lv IS", ^- "• a. ao 20", i)t I3i(") 17 18''- " 20", Jer 7" 32>, 1 K M", 2 K 16' 2P- ", Ezk 5»- " 7'- • »■ ' 8«- "• " etc. (43 times in Ezk), rarely of an actual idol, 2 K 23" (of Milcom), Is 44", and perhaps Dt 32'".

(2) Su5, the technical term for stale sacrificial flesh, which has not been eaten within the pre- scribed time, only Lv 7" 19', Ezk 4' (where the prophet protests that he lias never partaken of it), and (plur.) Is 65. For distinction this might ho rendered refuse meat ; the force of the allusion in Ezk 4', Is 05, in particular, is entirely lost by the rendering ' abominable thing ' of AV, UV.

(3) riJ»'> f'O technical term for the flesh of pro- hibited animals (see article Unclean), Lt 7" )iw-u.».j3.«.«a(cf_ the corresponding verb, V. "•"•♦• 20®) : this sense of the word gives the point to Ezk 8'", Is 66". |'B5' would be best represented by 12 ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION detestation, or detestable tkinij (cf. detest for the Terb, Dt T'*). Note that in IJt 14' abomination is njyiB, not the technical jijy used in Lv 11.

(4) \ifiv, allied in etymology to (3), but in usage confined almost exclusively toobjectsconnec ted with idolatry, and chiefly a contemptuous designation of heathen deities themselves: lirst in Hos9" 'and }i<ii:&u\& detestations like thatwhich they loved ' (Baal of I'eor, named just before) ; more frequently in writers of the age of Jer and Ezk, viz. Dt 29'" i">, Jer4'7»<'( = 32') 13" 16'*, Ezk 5" 7"" 1I'«-^ 20'- ^-m 37^, 1 K i I" Milcom the detestation of the Ammon- ites,' V.'

-', 2 K 23"- "s (not of MUcom), v."; also Is 66', Zee 9'. In AV, KV, where this word occurs beside nji^'in {No. 1), as Ezk 5" 7" (and Ezk 37-^, even where it stands alone), it is rendered for distinction detestable thing ; and either this or detestation would be the most suitable Eng. equivalent for it. 8. R. Driver. ABOMINATION OP DESOLATION, THE (t6 fidavy^ Tijs ip-niiidia^), Mt 24', Mk 13', ' spoken of by Daniel the prophet,' the appearance of whicli, 'standing ir Tbici^ a.

-fl<f (Mt), or irov oi ie'i (Mk),' is mentioned by Christ as the signal for the lliglit of Christians from Judaea, at the time of the approaching destruction of Jems. The Gr. plirase is borrowed from Dn ff" LXX pSiKuyiw. tCiv ipriii.w(r(ur (so Theod.), 11" LXX ^SiXvy/ia iprfixuiaciat (Theod. ^5. Tiipai/iiifUyoy), 12" LXX ri /Sot'Xvy/ja T-^s ^pT/^iicreut (Theod. ;S5. ep.) ; cf. 8" (LXX, Theod. ) T] ap.apTla iprip,uffcas. The Heb.

in the first of these passages is D;lro D'VPP, in the second y^pvn Dck'9, in the third cry rpp, in the last Dcr jpjn. pp? is the word explained under ABOMINATION (4), as being often the contemptuous designation of a heathen god or idol, cttyq and opir are, however, diliicult. Dciyci elsewhere (only Ezr 9^-) means horrifed ; ccl? means usually desolate (as La l*- '°), though it might also (as ptcp. of od^, Ezk 26'° 27^° al.) mean horrified as well; in Dn, however (supposing the te.

xt to be sound), the exigencies of the sense have obliged many commentators to sup- pose that the Poel conjug.

has a trans, force ; hence KV 9^ ' one that maketh desolate ' ; 11" ' and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and sliall take away the continual bumt-otiering, and they sliall set up the abomination that maketh desolate ' ; 12" ' from the time that the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up ' ; so 8" DCb' vgijn ' the trans^ession that mctkethdesolate' (the form Dcy might just be a ptcp. Poel with the D dropped ; Ges.-K.

§§ 55 R. 1, 52. 2 R. 6). In spite, however, of the uncertainty as regards ceo (or CDB'O), the general sense of IP' and 12" is clear. Dn 1 !''"*• deals with the history of Antiochus Epiphanes, and v." refers to the desecration of the temple by the troops of Antiochus, the subsequent susjiension of the daily bunit-oU'ering and other reli^'ious services (wliicli lasted for three years), and 'to the erection on 15 Chislev, B.C.

168, of a small idol-altar (jSu^is) upon the AUar of bumt- ofiering (1 Mac l*"-'"). 12" (like 8") is another reference to the same events. It is remarkable, now, that in 1 Mac 1" the idol-altar is called by exactly the same name that is used in the Bk. of Dn — i^KoSiifiTjaay ^S^Xi'yfj.a ipTjfiuffews iwl rh SvaKKrHipiOf (cf. 6'). Dn 9'-'' is very diflicult : but, as the reference in NT is rather to 11" and 12", it need not here be further considered ; LXX, Theod.

, however, it may be noted, have itai iirl rb Upiv fi5i\lrf^l.a tuk iprifiwatuy. Of tlie perplexing expression ddo ppp, now, a clever and plausible explanation has been suggested by Nestle (ZATW 1884, p. 248 ; cf. Cheyne, Origin of the Psalter, p. 105 ; Bevan, Dnn. p. 193), viz. that it is a con- temptuous allusion to o'cs' Svn Baal of heaven, a title found often in Phcen. and (with J'Dp for otjp) Aram, inscriptions, and the Sem. equivalent of the Gr.

Zei/s : according to 2 Mac 6^ Antiochus desired to make the temple a sanctuary of Zei)t 'OXi/^TTiot, — as his coins show (Nestle, Marginalien, p. 42, who cites Babelon, Les Bois de Syrie, pp. xiv, xlviii), his patron deitj',— who in the Syr. vers, of the same passage is actually called roe ^yD Baal of heaven. Upon this view, we are released from the necessity of searching for a meaning of oct?

in exact accordance with the context ; the ^w/iii (with, possibly, an image connected with it) erected by the Syrians upon the Altar of burnt-offering was termed derisively by the Jews the ' desolate abomination,' the ' abomination ' being the altar (and image?) of Zeus (Baal), and 'desolate' (shomem) being just a punning variation of ' heaven ' (shdmaim,). The Gv. trs.

of Dn and 1 Mac, in so far as they supposed the expression to mean ^iiXiryiui iprj/idiaewt, no doubt understood the idolatrous emblem to involve, by its erection, the desertion of the temple by its usual worshippers, and ultimately its actual ' desolation ' (see 1 Mac 4^). 11" and 8" (the subst. with the art., the ptcp. without it), and still more (if, as is probable, the reference be to the same idolatrous emblem) 9" (the subst. plur., the ptcp. sing.

), are grammatic- ally diflicult ; but the text in these passages is perhaps not in its original form (cf. Bevan). As to the meaning of the expression in the projjhecy of Christ, it is very difficult to speak with confidence. It would be most naturally under- stood (cf. Spitta, Offenh. des Joh.

493-496) of some desecrating emblem, similar in general character to the altar or image erected by Antiochus, and of which that might be regarded as the prototype : but nothing exactly corresponding to this is recorded by history ; the order wiiich Caligula issued for the erection in the temple of a statue of himself, to which divine honours were to be paid, being not enforced (Jos. <4n<. XVIII. viii. 8). The three most usual explanations are — (1) the Rom.

standards, to which sacrifices were ollered by the Rom. soldiers in the temple, after it had been entered by Titus (Jos. BJvi. vi. 1) ; (2) the desecra- tion of the temple by the Zealots, who seized it and made it their stronghold, shortly before the city was invested by Titus [ib. IV. iii. 6-8, cf. vi. 3 end) ; (3) the desolation of the temple-site by the heathen, at the time of its capture by Titus (so Meyer).

The term standing (which points to some concrete object) is a serious objection to the second and third of these explanations ; it is some objection, though not perhaps a fatal one, to the first, that it places the signal for flight at the very last stage of the enemy's successes, when even the dwellers in Judiea (in view of whom the words are spoken) would seem no longer to need the warning.

■The erection of the imperial statue in the Temple was, however, only averted in the first instance by the earnest representations of the procurator Petronius and of King Agrippa I., and afterwards by Caligula's own untimely death (Schiirer, HJP I. ii. 99 f.): the emperors order caused great alarm among the Jews, who even after his oeath (A.D. 41) continued to fear lest one of his successors should revive and enforce it (Pfleiderer, Vets Urchrist. pp. 403-407; Mommsen, Provinces, ii. 196 ff.

, 203 11'. ) ; hence (as even the first explanation mentioned above leaves something to be desired) it may not be an 'inreasonable conjecture that the language of the original prophecy w-as more general, and that, during the years of agitation and tension which preceded the final struggle of A.D. 70, it was modified so as to give more definit« expression to such apprehensions ; the masc. The writer ia Indebted for this sujr^estion to hia friend, Prof SaDda>.

ABOUT ABRAHAIW 13 »(TTnK(iTo, which in Mk 13" is the best readiiipr (x BL ; so RV, ' standing wliere Aeought not '), would also lend itself more readily to this explanation than to any of those previously mentioned.* The supposition (Weiss) that the army of the heathen Itomans is referred to, involves an unnatural application, both of the expression • abomination of desolation,' and of the verb 'standing.'

In the parallel passage of Lk (21-") the phraseologj' of the earlier synoptisls seems to have been not only (as in so many other cases) re-cast, but also coloured by the event ('when ye see Jerus. encircled by firmies, then know that her desolation hath drawn nigh') ; a paraphnuse such as this, however, cannot fairly be deemed an autlwu-itativf interpretation of the expression used in Mt and Jlk.t S. R. Driver.