The Abominable Thing
W. Clarkson Leviticus 11:11-13 They shall be even an abomination to you; you shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall have their carcasses in abomination.… All the "unclean" animals were spoken of as "abominable." The Israelites were to learn to regard all creatures which were forbidden for food as offensive in their sight. Many of those prohibited were, for one reason or another, objects of natural aversion; fitting, therefore, to be types and pictures of" that abominable thing which God hates" (Jeremiah 44:4). Probably nothing in nature affords such a vivid conception of that which is loathsome and disgusting as certain members of the animal world. "The ugliness and spitefulness of the camel the filthy sensuality of the hog, the voracious appetency of the dog, the wolf, and the hyena, the savage ferocity of the tiger, the sluggishness of the sloth, the eagle clutching innocence in its talons, the vulture gorging on putrescence, the slimy fish that creeps among the mud, the snake watching in the grass, the scaly thing that crawls on all the land and in all the sea;" - here we have a striking and almost terrible picture of the repulsiveness of sin. The training of the Hebrew mind to look on "unclean" animals with greatest aversion helped them to view sin in the light in which God would have us regard it, viz. - I. AS A THING WHICH HE HATES UTTERLY, "It is even an abomination unto him," it is "that abominable thing which he hates." He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." The falseness, the impurity, the grossness, the oppression, the selfishness, the profanity, the ingratitude of human nature, are as unendurable in God's sight - things from which he turns with as pained and troubled an eye - as are the most revolting actions of the unclean among the beasts of the field or the reptiles that crawl on the earth, in our esteem. Language fails to express the idea; the vilest habits of the lowest creatures will alone convey the thought of the repulsiveness of sin in the sight of God. II. As A THING WHICH THE HOLY HATE. Holy angels, the "spirits of just men made perfect," holy men on earth, - all holy spirits, like the Holy One himself, hate sin, shrink from the sight of it, regard it "even as an abomination." David records for us his intolerance of iniquity (Psalm 101). Peter tells us of the vexation of Lot's righteous soul with the unlawful deeds and filthy conversation of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7, 8). The message that comes from the attitude of the holy is, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10). III. AS A THING WHICH WE MUST LEARN TO HATE. 1. If we are numbered among the holy, we are hating sin; as far as our spirit is sanctified by the truth and by the Spirit of God, so far sin is to us "that abominable thing." 2. But we need to learn more of its hideousness, and to shrink from it with more of Divine repugnance. 3. And if we are practicing any evil habit, and therefore cherishing it, and not only enduring but even loving it, there must come a time of disenchantment when the evil thing will assume to our eye its own hateful aspect. It is (1) a painful thing to consider that we may be, with so many others, liking that which we should be loathing; choosing and cherishing that which we should be indignantly repelling or expelling. (2) A needful thing to keep an open eye to see that to which we may now be blind; to be willing to learn that which our true friends may have to teach us; to be ready and eager to receive enlightenment from God (Psalm 139:23). (3) A fearful thine to think how many live and die in the love of that which is loathsome, and will only learn in retributive scenes what an abominable thing is sin. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination. WEB: and you detest them. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.