non-trivial and unlikely accomplishment—but he could not overcome human
evil. For this reason, Abel is archetypally incomplete. Perhaps he was naive,
although a vengeful brother can be inconceivably treacherous and subtil, like
the snake in Genesis 3:1. But excuses—even reasons—even understandable
reasons—don’t matter; not in the final analysis. The problem of evil
remained unsolved even by the divinely acceptable sacrifices of Abel. It took
thousands of additional years for humanity to come up with anything else
resembling a solution. The same issue emerges again, in its culminating form,
the story of Christ and his temptation by Satan. But this time it’s expressed
more comprehensively—and the hero wins.
Evil, Confronted
Jesus was led into the wilderness, according to the story, “to be tempted by
the Devil” (Matthew 4:1), prior to his crucifixion. This is the story of Cain,
restated abstractly. Cain is neither content nor happy, as we have seen. He’s
working hard, or so he thinks, but God is not pleased. Meanwhile, Abel is, by
all appearances, dancing his way through life. His crops flourish. Women
love him. Worst of all, he’s a genuinely good man. Everyone knows it. He
deserves his good fortune. All the more reason to envy and hate him. Things
do not progress well for Cain, by contrast, and he broods on his misfortune,
like a vulture on an egg. He strives, in his misery, to give birth to something
hellish and, in doing so, enters the desert wilderness of his own mind. He
obsesses over his ill fortune; his betrayal by God. He nourishes his
resentment. He indulges in ever more elaborate fantasies of revenge. And as
he does so, his arrogance grows to Luciferian proportions. “I’m ill-used and
oppressed,” he thinks. “This is a stupid bloody planet. As far as I’m
concerned, it can go to Hell.” And with that, Cain encounters Satan in the
wilderness, for all intents and purposes, and falls prey to his temptations. And
he does what he can to make things as bad as possible, motivated by (in John
Milton’s imperishable words):
So deep a malice, to confound the Race
Of Mankind in one Root, and Earth with Hell
to mingle and involve—done all to spite
the Great Creator ...^133