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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,
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
: “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.
(
, 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.…”
TO ACCEPT
(
, 7521), “to be pleased, be pleased with, accept favorably, satisfy.” This
is a common term in both biblical and modern Hebrew. Found approximately 60 times in
the text of the Old Testament, one of its first appearances is in Gen. 33:10: “Thou wast
pleased with me.” In the
RSV
rendering of this verse, “favor” appears twice, the first time
being a translation of
.
When
expresses God’s being pleased with someone, the English versions often
translate it as “be delighted,” which seems to reflect a sense of greater pleasure: “… mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isa. 42:1); “… thou hadst a favor unto them” (Ps.
44:3). This nuance is reflected also in Prov. 3:12, where
is paralleled with
“to love”: “… for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom
he delighteth.”
On the other hand, when one must meet a certain requirement to merit
it
seems more logical to translate it with “to please” or “to accept.” For example: “Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams …?” (Mic. 6:7); “… burnt offerings and your
meat offerings, I will not accept them …” (Amos 5:22).
can be used in the sense of “to pay for” or “to satisfy a debt,” especially as it
relates to land lying fallow in the sabbath years: “Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths,
as long as it lieth desolate, … even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths” (Lev.
26:34). Here the
RSV
,
NASB
, and
NEB
also translate
as “enjoy.” However, the
context seems to require something like “the land shall repay (satisfy) its sabbaths.”
Similarly, the phrase, “… her iniquity is pardoned” (Isa. 40:2), must mean “her iniquity is
paid for” or “her punishment is accepted as satisfactory.”
TO ADD