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80 Abolitionists

THE JEWISH E^'CYCLOPEDIA

Abot

ABOLITIONISTS, JEWISH, IN AMERICA.

See Antislaveuy

Movement.

ABOMINATION:

Remleriii!; in tlie Englisli Versions of (lilli Kilt Hililiciil terms tlenoting that wliieli is loathed or detested on religiims grounds and wliieli. tlierefore. is utterly offensive to the Deity. These terms dilTer greatly in the degree of the ab-

horrenee

ini|ilied

and should

lie

distinguished in

translation, as follows: (1) navin {tu'ebuk)-. Ahomination of tlie highest degree; originally that which offends the religious sense of a people. Tlius (Gen. xliii. 32) " The Egyp:

tians migiit not cat liread with the Hebrews: for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians." The reason is that the Helirews, as foreigners, were conAccording to Herodotus, sidered an inferior caste. ii. 41. no Egyptian would kiss a Greek on the mouth, or tise hisilish, or even taste meat cut with a carvingknife belonging to a Greek. Hut especially as shepherds the Hebrews were "an abomination unto the Egyptians" (Gen. xlvi. 34). The eating of unclean animals is a religious offense called toet)ah: "Thou shall not eat any abominable thing" (I)eut. xiv. 3). This is the introduction to the laws prohibiting the

use of unclean animals (see

Clk.w and

U.nci.kan

Still more offensive to the God of Israel Axi-MAl.s) The idol itself is called is the practise of idolatry. an Abomination: "for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shall thou bring an abomination into thine house and thus become a thing set apart [taI)ooed=^<";vw/] like unto it: thou shalt utterly detest it and utterly abhor it. for it is a thing .

apart [tabooed]" (l)eut. vii. 'i't, 2ti. IIili.): "Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord" (I)eut. xxvii. 1.")). Often the word to'ebah is used for idol or heathen deity; for instance, in Isa. xliv. 19; Deut. xxxii. 16; II Kings, xxiii. 13. and especially Ex. viii. 22 (26, A. V.) it is to be taken in this sense. AVhcn Pharaoh had told the Isnielites to offer sacrifices to their God set

80

heart that deviseth wicked imaginations; feet that be swilt in running to mischief; a false witness that utterelh lies, and he that sowetli discord among brethren " (('/(. vi. 16-19. Ilth.). In another direction the prohibition of an abominable thing is given an ethical meaning: "Thou shalt not sacrifice inlo the Lord thy God an ox or a sheep wherein is a blemish, " for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God (Deut. xvii. 1. Il.h.). Here the jihysieal character of the sjicrifice is offensive. I5ut prophet and sage dedare that any sacrifice w ithout purity of motive isan Abomination: "Bring no more an oblation of falsehood an incense of abomination it is to me " (Isn. i. 13. //(/<.; compare .ler. vii. 10). "The sacrifice of the wicked " (Prov. xv. 8, xxi. 27) and the pniyerof "him that turnelh his ear from hearing the law" (Prov. xxviii. 9. Ilth.) are an Abomination. (-) "pC (x/k/:'?) or "IpL" (.'/liH-nz) Expresses detestation, or a detestable thing of a somewhat less degree of hoiTor or religious awe; also rendered "Abomination" in the Aiithorized Version of the Bible. It is ajiplied to prohibited animals (Lev. xi. 10-13. 20. 23. 41. 42; Isa. Ixvi. 17; Ezek. viii. 10): " Ye shall not make yourselves abominable" (Lev. xi. 43). But it is also used for that which should be held as detestable; often parallel to or together with to'ebah and applied to idols and idolatrous practises (Deut. xxix. 17; llosea, ix. 10; Jer. iv. 1, xiii. 27, xvi. 18; Ezek. xi. 18-21, xx. 7, 8), See especially Milcom, "the detestable thing of the Ammonites," the god of the Ammonites (I Kings, xi. 5), used exactly as to'ebah in the jiassages referred to above (see also Ahomixation ok Dicsoi.atio.n). (3) t)1JD (/'(.'/.'/"/): Unclean, putrid; used only for sacrificial fiesli that has becomi' stale and tainted (Lev. vii. 18, xix. 7: Ezek. iv. 14; Isa. Ixv. 4): eomparclihcni incf/mil. "the loathsome bread.'' from r/itul. For the later rabbinic "to loathe" (JIal. i. 7). conception of piggul. sec SArHiFicE. H. P. M.

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,

Egypt. Jloses replie<l " How may we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians (that is, the kind of animals worshiped by them] before their eyes, and they not stone us?" (.see Ibn Ezra, (id Inc.). AH idolatrous practise is an Abomination becatise "Every abomination to of its defiling character: the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their " (Deut. xii. 31 compare Deut. xiii. 15, xvii. 4, gods Also magic and divination are an AbomiXX. 18). Sexual transgression is nation (Deut. xviii. 12). particnlarlv denounceil as an Abomination (to'ebah) in



ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION:

An

expression occurring in .Matt. xxiv. 15 and .Mark, xiii. 14 (A. v.). where the Greek text has rb lidi'/.v, fta T;/f

The Greek itself, however, is leferHebrew expression, DOC'O I'lpC'. found in

ipr/nuaeuc.

able to a

Dan. ix. 37 (where the D of D'VlpL" has been added, through a co|iyist's error, from the D of the ensuing word); in Dan. xi. 31. and in Dan. xii. 11 (with omis-



(Deut. xxii. n. xxiii. 19 [18, A. V.], xxiv. 4); especially incest and unnatural offenses (Lev. xviii. and XX.): " For all these abominations have the men of the land done wlio were before you. and the land became iletiled le.st the land vomit you out also when ye defile it " (Lev. xviii. 27, 38, //eJ. compare also Ezek. viii. 15 and elsewhere). But the word toeliah also assumes a liigher spiri;



tiiiil

meaning and

"Thou

shalt not

aiiplied also to moral iniquities: in thine house divers measa small. For all that do such

is

have

ures, a great and things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination tuito the Lord thy God" (Deiit. xxv. 14-16). In the same strain we are taught that "lying lips" (Prov. xii. 22) " the perverse " (//'. iii. 32.'R.V.) the " proud in heart'' ( ih. x vi. 5), " the wa.y of the wicked " (ill. XV. 9) "thoughts of evil " (i/,. x'v. 26. /M.) and " he that justifieth the wicked and he that condenin.

.

.

.

,

.

eth the righteous" (il/. xvii. 15) are an Abomination. "These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven things are an abomination to him: haughty eyes: a lying tongue hands that shed innocent "blood a



sion of the prefixed O). The context of these pas.sages leaves no room for doubt as to what was intended by this somewhat odd expression; namely, the transformation, by .Vntiochus Epijihanes, of the sacred Temple at .Terusaleni into a heathen one. In both Biblical and rabbinical Hebrew abomination is a familiar term for an idol (I Kings, xi. 5; II Kiiisxs. xxiii. 13; .Sifra, Kedosliim. beginning, and Mekilta, .Mishpatim, xx. ed. Weiss, 107), and therefore may well have the s;inie application in Daniel, which shoidd accordingly be rendered, in agreement with Ezra, ix. 3, 4, "motionless abomination "or, also, "appalling abomination." The suggest ion of many scholars Hoffmann, Nestle, iis n designation Bevan, and others that DOL"

—

—

ppC

for .Jupiter is siiuply an intentional perversion of his

Shamem " (DDC hv^- " lo"! of heaven ") is iiuite plausible, as is attested by the perversion of " Beelzebub " into " ^n/.C,clhi'A " (Greek version) in Mark, iii. 22, as well as the express injunction found in Tosef. 'Ab. Zarali, vi. (vii) and Babli 'Ab. Zarah. 46^, that the names of idols may be pronounced only in a distorted or abbreviated form (see the examples quoted there). Though the expression " Abomination of Desolation " is accordingly recogusual appellation "Baal

.