(βδέλυγμα)
Like the word ‘taste’-originally a physical, then a mental term,-‘abomination’ denotes that for which God and His people have a violent distaste. It refers in the OT to the feeling: of repulsion against prohibited foods (Leviticus 11:10, Deuteronomy 14:3), then to everything connected with idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:25, Romans 2:22 [Gr.]).* [Note: the well-known expression, ‘abomination of desolation,’ applied to a heathen altar (Daniel 12:11; cf. 1 Maccabees 1:54, Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14). See art. ‘Abomination of Desolation’ in HDB.] Thence it acquires a moral meaning, and together with fornication stigmatizes all the immoralities of heathendom (Revelation 17:4-5). Its intensest use is reserved for hypocrisy, the last offence against religion (Luke 16:15, Titus 1:16, Revelation 21:27).
Sherwin Smith.