Abomination

A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.                         Proverbs 11:1 ESV

The word “abomination” (Heb. to’ebah) occurs disproportionately often in the book of Proverbs. It refers to something that is particularly disgusting to Yahweh. In Proverbs it is used to describe an interesting variety of persons, objects and actions, including pride (6:17); dishonest scales (11:1); the mocker (24:9); the prayer of a law-breaker (28:9); and the unjust man (29:27).

When we ask why the word occurs so frequently in Proverbs, the answer is not very difficult to come up with. In this book, the point is that there are behaviors and attitudes that conform to the world’s design, and those which do not. To live in defiance of that design is to be a fool. To live in keeping with that design is to be a wise person. The fool is said to be wicked, i.e., godless. The wise person is said to be righteous, i.e. right in God’s judgment (cf. 15:8, 9). Any behavior, attitude, or thing that does not conform to the Creator’s design for creation is thus an abomination.

I find it especially interesting that a false scale is an abomination. That is, if I say that the weight I am using to buy your grain weighs one pound when it actually weighs a pound and a quarter (and I pay you for a pound of grain while actually taking a pound and a quarter of it) that is an offense against the design of the universe and disgusts God. In short, whenever I say that something is not so, when it is so (like the mocker who says right is wrong) or is so when it is not (like the unjust judge who says the guilty is innocent), I am attacking the unchanging order of Creation.

In the light of the above, I leave it to the reader to explain why all kinds of sexual behavior outside of committed heterosexual marriage are said to be “abominable customs” (Lev 18:30). Is it because the writer was prudish and backwards, or was it because he believed there are behaviors, attitudes and objects which are in keeping with Creation order and those which are not.