Abomination
In everyday speech an abomination is something disgusting. In the Bible the word is stronger and more precise: it names what God himself finds detestable, what clashes with his holiness so deeply that it cannot stand in his presence. The term covers idols and pagan rites, sexual and social sins, dishonest business and even worship offered by unrepentant hearts.
The concept reaches its most famous form in the phrase “abomination of desolation”, taken from the book of Daniel and repeated by Jesus in his teaching on the Mount of Olives. To understand it, we need to see how the Old Testament uses the vocabulary of abomination and how the New Testament gathers it up in the light of Christ.
1. Etymology and meaning
Two Hebrew words stand behind most English translations. The first is to'evah (תּוֹעֵבָה), which occurs well over one hundred times. It describes something that is abhorrent according to a given standard. Sometimes the standard is human: the Egyptians considered it an abomination to eat with Hebrews (Genesis 43:32) and regarded shepherds as abhorrent (Genesis 46:34). Most often, however, the standard is God himself, as in the frequent expression “an abomination to the LORD” (Deuteronomy 7:25; Proverbs 11:1).
The second word is shiqquts (שִׁקּוּץ), “detestable thing”, closely related to sheqets (שֶׁקֶץ), used for unclean animals (Leviticus 11:10-13). Shiqquts is almost always tied to idols: Milcom is called “the abomination of the Ammonites” and Chemosh “the abomination of Moab” (1 Kings 11:5, 7). It is this word that appears in Daniel's phrase shiqquts meshomem, “the abomination that makes desolate”. In the Greek of the Septuagint and the New Testament the usual equivalent is bdelygma (βδέλυγμα), from a verb meaning to feel revulsion.
2. Historical context and biblical use
Idolatry and the practices of the nations
The Law places idolatry at the center of what God abhors. Israel was to burn the carved images of the Canaanite gods and not even covet the silver and gold on them, “for it is an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 7:25). Bringing such an object home would make the family “devoted to destruction like it” (Deuteronomy 7:26). Child sacrifice, divination, sorcery and consulting the dead are grouped under the same verdict (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
Leviticus 18 lists forbidden sexual relations, including incest, adultery, homosexual intercourse and bestiality, and calls these practices abominations of the nations that inhabited Canaan before Israel (Leviticus 18:22-30). The land itself is described as defiled and “vomiting out” its inhabitants, and Israel is warned that the same will happen to them if they follow those customs (Leviticus 18:28).
Ethics, justice and worship
Abomination is not only a matter of ritual. False weights and measures are an abomination to the LORD (Deuteronomy 25:13-16; Proverbs 11:1). Proverbs lists seven things he hates: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run to evil, a false witness and one who sows discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19). Even religious acts become abominable when separated from obedience: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 15:8), and through Isaiah God calls Judah's incense an abomination because their hands were full of blood (Isaiah 1:13-15).
Abominations in the temple
The prophets denounced abominations brought into God's own house. Ezekiel was shown idols, pagan rites and sun worship inside the temple courts, each scene worse than the one before (Ezekiel 8:6-16). Jeremiah accused the people of committing abominations and then standing in the temple saying, “We are delivered” (Jeremiah 7:10). The worst abomination is not idolatry far away, but idolatry at the heart of worship.
3. Main passages
Deuteronomy 7:25-26 shows that abomination is contagious: what belongs to idolatry cannot be kept as a harmless souvenir. Leviticus 18:22-30 shows that God's standards for the body and the family are not arbitrary preferences but part of the holiness of his people in his land. Proverbs 6:16-19 shows that pride, lies, violence and division are as detestable to God as any pagan rite.
In Daniel the expression takes a prophetic and historical turn. Daniel 11:31 foretells a king whose forces will profane the sanctuary, take away the regular burnt offering and set up “the abomination that makes desolate”. Daniel 12:11 repeats the phrase and adds a period of 1,290 days. Daniel 9:27, within the prophecy of the seventy weeks, says that on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out. The history recorded in 1 Maccabees (a Jewish historical book, not part of the Protestant canon) tells that in 167 BC the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes set up a “desolating sacrilege” on the altar in Jerusalem and stopped the sacrifices (1 Maccabees 1:54). Many interpreters see Daniel 11:31 fulfilled in that event. Some scholars also suggest, as a hypothesis, that shiqquts meshomem is a mocking wordplay on Baal Shamem, “lord of heaven”, a title of the pagan god honored in the temple.
Jesus, however, still spoke of the abomination as future: “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16; compare Mark 13:14). Luke's parallel speaks of Jerusalem surrounded by armies and says that its desolation has come near (Luke 21:20). Evangelical interpreters read this in different ways. Many see its fulfillment in the Roman siege and destruction of the temple in AD 70. Others see a final fulfillment in the man of lawlessness who “takes his seat in the temple of God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). Many hold that the prophecy has a first fulfillment in AD 70 and points beyond it to the end. Scripture does not settle every detail, and humility is fitting.
4. Theological significance
Abomination is the negative image of holiness. God is not neutral about evil; he loves righteousness and hates what destroys it. At the same time, the Bible distinguishes between laws tied to Israel's ceremonial system, such as unclean foods (Deuteronomy 14:3), which Jesus declared fulfilled when he made all foods clean (Mark 7:19; compare Acts 10:15), and moral standards that the New Testament reaffirms, such as the rejection of idolatry, sexual immorality, greed and deceit (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Jesus also turned the concept on the self-righteous: “what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). No one stands outside the verdict. Yet the gospel does not stop at condemnation. Paul follows his list of sins with the words “and such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). At the cross, Christ bore the judgment that what is abominable deserves, so that sinners could be cleansed.
5. Legacy and canonical references
The vocabulary runs from the Torah through the Prophets and Wisdom books into the New Testament. Revelation describes Babylon the great holding a golden cup “full of abominations” (Revelation 17:4-5) and declares that nothing unclean, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, will enter the new Jerusalem, only those written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:27). The Bible thus ends where the Law began: God's dwelling with his people must be holy, and only grace makes people fit for it.
6. Application for today
The idea of abomination confronts a culture that prefers to say nothing is truly detestable. Scripture calls us to share God's judgments, to hate what is evil and cling to what is good (Romans 12:9). That includes idols that have no statue: money, success, pleasure and self-image can take God's place just as surely as Chemosh or Milcom.
But the same list that includes sexual sin includes pride, lying and sowing discord. No believer can point at others' abominations while ignoring his own. The right response is repentance and trust in Christ, who washes and makes new. The church is called to hold God's standards without softening them and to offer God's mercy without restricting it, so that people who were once far off may be brought near by his blood.