What is an Abomination?

The words abomination, to abominate, and/or an abominable act are similar to the word blasphemy. Meaning, as an adjective, a verb, or a noun, every human being is guilty of an abomination.

Whether we examine the Hebrew words or Greek words for abomination, in summary, an abomination is this.

An abomination symbolically is ‘sin in general.’ It is anything that is an affront to a holy God. More specifically, it is a detestable thing (or act), an abhorrence, a loathsome thing, a repulsive thing, anything unclean, a sacrifice, idolatry, pagan religions, or the worship of prohibited deities, or the false deity of me, myself, and I. It is something that God detests or abominates, such as sexual sin, or a perversion of God’s order of creation, such as effeminate men, egalitarian women (aka feminism), transgenderism, or pride.

How many times have we seen people on social media say “I’m proud of…? Recently, I saw someone post, “I am proud of myself [for]…” Make no mistake, this pride is an abomination to the Lord.

The elect.

Once God’s elect are saved (effectually called) by God’s sovereign grace, they will have new desires of their heart and will continually repent, not repeat. And since God’s elect have been restored from their fallen, marred state, reconciled to the image of God, they will become imitators of God. Hence, they too will detest and abominate abominations which are repugnant to Almighty God.

OK, I have defined the word abomination so you could stop right here. Or, if you choose to dive deeper, for a more technical definition of abomination, then go with me further.

ABOMINATION — anything that offends the spiritual, religious, or moral sense of a person and causes extreme disgust, hatred, or loathing. Among the objects described as an “abomination” were the carved images of pagan gods (Deut. 7:25–26), the sacrifice to God of inferior, blemished animals (Deut. 17:1), the practice of idolatry (Deut. 17:2–5), and the fashioning of a “carved or molded image” of a false god (Deut. 27:15; Is. 44:19).

Other abominations were sexual transgressions (Leviticus 18), the adoption of the clothing of the opposite sex (Deut. 22:5), and the practice of magic, witchcraft, and “spiritism” (Deut. 18:9–12). Most of the Hebrew words translated “abomination” have the meaning of “impure,” “filthy,” and “unclean”—that which is foul-smelling and objectionable to a holy God.

Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1995).

ABOMINATION. In the language of Scripture, the word abomination for the most part means idolatry. Thus we read, (2 Kings 23:13,) that Ashtoreth was the abomination (that is the idol) of the Zidonians; Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites; and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Hence our Lord forewarned his disciples, that when they saw the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the holy place, namely, the temple, they should accept this, as a token, that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and should accordingly then take their flight. And this was done, when Titus Vespasian’s army put up the image of idolatry in the temple. Compare. (Dan. 9:27 with Matt. 24:15 and Mark 13:14.)

Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures (London: Ebenezer Palmer, 1828), 18.

ABOMINATION

A. Noun.

to˓ebah (תּוֹעֵבָה, 8441), “abomination; loathsome, detestable thing.” Cognates of this word appear only in Phoenician and Targumic Aramaic. The word appears 117 times and in all periods.

First, to˓ebah defines something or someone as essentially unique in the sense of being “dangerous,” “sinister,” and “repulsive” to another individual. This meaning appears in Gen. 43:32 (the first occurrence): “… The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” To the Egyptians, eating bread with foreigners was repulsive because of their cultural or social differences (cf. Gen. 46:34; Ps. 88:8). Another clear illustration of this essential clash of disposition appears in Prov. 29:27: “An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.” When used with reference to God, this nuance of the word describes people, things, acts, relationships, and characteristics that are “detestable” to Him because they are contrary to His nature. Things related to death and idolatry are loathsome to God: “Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing” (Deut. 14:3). People with habits loathsome to God are themselves detestable to Him: “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deut. 22:5). Directly opposed to to˓ebah are such reactions as “delight” and “loveth” (Prov. 15:8–9).

Second, to˓ebah is used in some contexts to describe pagan practices and objects: “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house …” (Deut. 7:25–26). In other contexts, to˓ebah describes the repeated failures to observe divine regulations: “Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; … because of all thine abominations” (Ezek. 5:7, 9). To˓ebah may represent the pagan cultic practices themselves, as in Deut. 12:31, or the people who perpetrate such practices: “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee” (Deut. 18:12). If Israelites are guilty of such idolatry, however, their fate will be worse than exile: death by stoning (Deut. 17:2–5).

Third, to˓ebah is used in the sphere of jurisprudence and of family or tribal relationships. Certain acts or characteristics are destructive of societal and familial harmony; both such things and the people who do them are described by to˓ebah: “These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him: … a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, … and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:16–19). God says, “The scorner is an abomination to men” (Prov. 24:9) because he spreads his bitterness among God’s people, disrupting unity and harmony.

B. Verb.

ta˓ab (תָּעַב, 8581), “to abhor, treat as abhorrent, cause to be an abomination, act abominably.” This verb occurs 21 times, and the first occurrence is in Deut. 7:26: “Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house.…”

W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 1.

This post is part of a What Is series I’m working on.

Every human being is guilty of an abomination. And every human needs to be saved from those sins and the wrath of God. More about salvation here.