What is an abomination in the Bible?
The Bible uses "abomination" for what a holy God loathes — and the list is wider than most people expect, running from idol worship to a rigged set of scales to the things society admires most. The word raises a hard question: who decides what is disgusting, God or us?
The Basic Meaning
The clearest starting point is a definition that gathers the word's range across the Old Testament — sin in general, unfit offerings, hollow religion, and above all false worship.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe word 'abomination' is used in the Old Testament in reference to any iniquity as viewed by a holy God. It also designates what was unfit to be presented in the service of God, such as an animal with any sort of blemish being brought as a sacrifice; the price of a dog being put into the treasury. The divine service became itself an abomination to God when it had fallen into a mere outward observance or was in association with iniquity. But idolatry was the special thing that was declared to be abomination to Jehovah. The idols themselves are thus designated. The word is but seldom used in the New Testament and applies then to wickedness in general.
Idolatry, the Chief Abomination
Because the word attaches so regularly to idols, it reappears in prophecy as the name for the ultimate act of false worship — an idol planted in God's own house.
Frederick W Grant"Abomination" is the regular word in the Old Testament to express what idolatry is in the sight of God; but here it is established in what was but a while before professedly His temple. Now, energized by Satan, from whom he holds his throne, and incited by the dread power that holds Jerusalem itself, he makes his attack upon Jehovah's throne itself, and, as represented by this image, takes his place in defiance in the sanctuary of the Most High.
Writers connect this "abomination of desolation" with an image of a coming ruler set up in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, though they hold the identification with varying degrees of certainty:
A. J. PollockProbably the image of the first beast set up in the temple will be "the abomination that makes desolate," spoken of by Daniel, and referred to by our Lord in Matthew 24:15.
Not Only the Act, but the Person
Scripture does not stop at labelling deeds. Commenting on the occult practices banned in Deuteronomy, one writer notes where the label lands and how long it lasts.
Numerical Bible NotesAll who do these things are declared emphatically to be an abomination to Jehovah; not merely the things are such, but the people who do them. Christianity has not changed this, nor can subtly disguised names hinder divine judgment.
What God Hates
Proverbs gathers seven such things into one list, and the striking feature is how ordinary most of them are — pride, speech, and division among people who belong together.
William KellySix things Jehovah hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness breathing out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Religion and Business Both Qualify
Two everyday areas are named. First, worship offered with the correct form but a defective heart:
C. H. MackintoshIt was not enough to maintain a correct outward form; images and groves might be abolished, and the nation might profess the belief in one God, and all the while there might be a complete lack of heart and genuine devotedness in the worship offered. So we read, "You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish… for that is an abomination to the LORD your God."
Second, trade. A rigged scale earns the same word as an idol, and the reason is that it hides a lie inside a show of honesty.
William Kelly"A false balance" is much more than an act of dishonesty; it implies the pretension to integrity, and with it a deliberate purpose to cheat. It is therefore an abomination to Him whose eyes behold, whose eyelids test the children of men, as a just weight is His delight. Trickery in trade is a corroding evil, most of all fatal to those who gain a stained or a hardened conscience.
The Reversal in Luke 16:15
The word cuts the other way too. Jesus turns it on the things people rank highest, which means our own instinct about what is disgusting cannot be trusted.
J. G. BellettThe moral sense, the natural conscience, self-righteousness, the laws of society, and the judgments of men supply us with false weights and measures, and we carry them about with us more than we are aware of. But they are an abomination. In our thoughts, the way of the prostitute and the tax collector is worse than the easy, respectable course of the world. If we had the balances of the sanctuary, we should weigh things differently. "What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
Summary
- Definition. An abomination is any wrong seen through the eyes of a holy God — sin in general, an unfit offering, empty religion, and most of all idolatry.
- Worship. The word peaks where worship is counterfeited: an idol in God's temple is called the abomination that brings desolation.
- Person. God's verdict falls not just on the practice but on the practitioner, and Christianity has not softened that.
- Everyday. Proud eyes, lying tongues, discord among brothers, a blemished sacrifice, a rigged scale — the list is domestic, not exotic.
- Reversal. Our own scales are among the false weights; what people rank highest, God calls an abomination.