a term used in Scripture with regard to the Hebrews, who, being shepherds, are said to have been an abomination to the Egyptians, because they sacrificed the sacred animals of that people, as oxen, goats, sheep, &c. which the Egyptians esteemed as abominations, or things unlawful. The term is also applied in the sacred writings to idolatry and idols, because the worship of idols is in itself an abominable thing, and at the same time ceremonies observed by idolaters were always attended with licentiousness and other odious and abominable actions. The abomination of desolation, foretold by the prophet Daniel, is supposed to imply the statue of Jupiter Olympus, which Antiochus Epiphanes caused to be placed in the temple of Jerusalem. And the abomination of desolation, mentioned by the Evangelists, signifies the ensigns of the Romans, during the last siege of Jerusalem by Titus, on which the figures of their gods and emperors were embroidered, and placed upon the temple after it was taken.