Leviticus 26:42-44 English Standard Version

42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.

When I did a word search for abhor I found this opening verse. What I was looking for was this; 

Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

We read the Old Testament to see what transpired between man and God as examples of what to expect since God does not change. Then returning to the search I found this;

Deuteronomy 7:26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.
Deuteronomy 23:7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land.

Those passages confused me. What is abominable and abhorrent if it is not the people?

Answers without context only lead to confusion. Even then the context may lead us to study even further to satisfy our understanding.

Deuteronomy 7:25 The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

What is an abomination to the Lord, the worship of a powerless god or the lust for the items that are a symbol of their dedication to those false gods? That was then and we live in the here and now. How can we relate to past mistakes in order to avoid the same mistakes? I find it difficult to watch what is going on around us and separate what people do from what they are. Are they evil or do they do it for gold and silver? I find it more and more difficult to make a righteous judgment every day.

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7)