I. Name

The singular noun šiqqûṣ ‘abomination’ as a dysphemism meaning ‘god, goddess’ appears seven times in the Masoretic text of Hebrew Scripture. This term refers respectively to (a) Milcom, the chief god of the Ammonites (1 Kgs. 11.5, 1 Kgs. 7); (b) Chemosh, the chief god of Moab (2 Kgs. 11.5; 2 Kgs. 23.13); (c) Ashtoreth (Astarte), the chief goddess of the Sidonians (2 Kgs. 11.5, 2 Kgs. 7); and (d) the abomination of desolation (šiqqûṣ mĕšōmēm, Gk. βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως, Dan. 11.31; Dan. 12.1), which most modern interpreters iden…