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Chapter 33OdoC.1.33

Caput XXXI

Abel's Innocent Offering

Abel's lamb prefigures Christ and the elect, who live in simplicity and humility, enduring the world's contempt with joy, their sacrifice an abomination to the worldly.

The righteous Abel, in his own person, prefigured Christ — the King of the heavenly Jerusalem — together with the whole gathering of the elect, and in the lamb he offered he expressed the innocence of those same elect.✦ For let me say something about the pursuits of this same innocence: whoever among them are perfect pretend nothing by clever deception, because they do not know how to speak duplicitously. They don't strive to be propped up by an abundance of things, nor to be paraded as honorable through the dignities of the world, nor to make a show of themselves in the finery of clothing, nor to boast in what lies outside themselves. They fear being honored, not being despised. They thin the body with self-restraint, and grow fat in mind and character. For the sake of righteousness they rejoice to endure insults; they consider it gain not to commit injuries but to bear them.✦ But even as they perform other deeds of this kind, they please God indeed, yet they offend the eyes of Cain — because the wise ones and worshippers of this world count them as cast down and as good as dead, since they see that these people do not live carnally as they do.✦ This is signified in that young man whom the Lord, when He freed him from a demon, allowed to lie motionless for a short time, so that many said he was dead — since those who don't know how to live spiritually judge the one who is free from unclean desires to be utterly useless and as good as extinguished.✦ Hence Job says: 'The simplicity of the righteous is mocked' (Job 12:4) — because clearly, when the same righteous person doesn't shine outwardly with temporal glory in the eyes of those who know how to weigh nothing but carnal goods, he falls into contempt.✦ Hence Moses well says in the voice of the elect: 'We shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord' (Exod.✦

Cain's Temptation to Go Out

The humble life is God's sacrifice, but Cain lures the faithful outward through worldly desire, as shown in Job's wife, Dinah, and the man who fell among robbers after leaving Jerusalem.

Exodus 8:26.✦ The Egyptians refuse to eat sheep, but what those people despise, the Israelites offer to God — because the simple life of the humble becomes a sacrifice to God, the very life that the proud and deceitful regard as foolishness.✦1 Cain, breathing fraternal slaughter, urges Abel to go out — and to go out means, having turned away from heavenly goods, to chase after external things.✦2 To bring this about, some who give in to the desire for earthly things are accustomed to turn aside those who seem to pursue eternal things — whether by example alone or even by words.3 These were clearly expressed by the wife of blessed Job, who urged words of blasphemy upon her husband.✦4 For these also, on account of the faith they profess, are mixed in with the faithful within the bosom of the Church, and by receiving them as far as the resting place of faith, they make them almost imitable to themselves.5 But whoever wishes to escape the cruelty of Cain should strive to be joined to interior desires and stop seeking after external things through the examples of the wicked.6 For he in the Gospel would not have encountered robbers if he had not departed from Jerusalem — which means 'vision of peace' — nor would the king of the land have violated the daughter of Jacob unless she had gone out to see the women of that region.✦✦7

The Simple Man in Tents

Jacob, the simple man dwelling in tents, is set against Esau the hunter, whom God hated, showing the blessedness of a quiet interior life.

So of this same Jacob it is said: "Because he was a simple man, he dwelt in tents" (Gen.✦8 25:27).✦ Esau, on the other hand — the one God hated — was a man skilled in hunting.✦910

Read the original Latin

Justus Abel sicut in se regem coelestis Hierusalem Christum cum omni collectione electorum significavit, sic in agno quem obtulit innocentiam eorumdem electorum expressit. Ut enim de studiis ejusdem innocentiae quiddam commemoremus, quicunque inter eos perfecti sunt, nihil callida simulatione simulant, quia loqui dupliciter ignorant. Non se student rerum abundantia fulciri, non per dignitates saeculi honorabiles ostentari, non cultu vestium pompare, non in his quae extra se sunt gloriari; honorari metuunt, non despici; corpus continentia tenuant, mente et moribus pinguescunt. Pro justitia contumelias suscipere gaudent; injurias non facere, sed tolerare lucrum putant. Sed et alia hujusmodi gerentes Deo quidem placent, oculos autem Cain offendunt, quia sapientes et cultores hujus mundi abjectos, et quasi mortuos deputant, quos non carnaliter secum vivere cernunt. Quod in illo juvene signatur, quem Dominus cum a daemonio liberaret, ita paululum jacere permisit, ut a multis mortuus diceretur, quoniam qui spiritaliter vivere nesciunt, eum qui immundis desideriis caret, inutilem penitus atque exstinctum arbitrantur. Unde Job ait: Deridetur justi simplicitas (Job XII, 4), quia videlicet dum foris idem justus temporali gloria non resplendet, eis qui nulla bona nisi carnalia pensare sciunt, in despectu venit. Unde bene Moyses electorum voce ait: Abominationes Aegyptiorum immolabimus Domino (Exod.

VIII, 26). Aegyptii dedignantur oves edere, sed quod illi abominantur, hoc Israelitae Deo offerunt, quia simplex humilium vita Deo in sacrificium vertitur, quam superbi et duplices fatuitatem putant esse. Fraternae caedis Cain spirans Abel foras egredi suadet; foras autem egredi est, neglectis coelestibus bonis exteriora quaerere. Ad quod videlicet agendum nonnulli qui appetitui terrenorum succumbunt, eos vero qui aeterna sequi videntur inflectere, vel solo exemplo, vel etiam verbis solent. Quos uxor beati Job evidenter expressit, quae verba blasphemiae viro suasit. Nam et hi propter professam fidem intra sinum Ecclesiae fidelibus admisti sunt, quos eo imitabiles pene sibi faciunt, quo eos usque ad fidei cubile recipiunt. Sed quisquis vult crudelitatem Cain evadere, studeat internis desideriis jungi, cesset exteriora per exempla pravorum ambire. Nam ille in Evangelio latrones non incurreret, si ab Hierusalem, quod est visio pacis, non exisset, neque filiam Jacob rex terrae corrupisset, nisi illa ad videndas illius regionis mulieres processisset.

Hinc de eodem Jacob dicitur: Quod simplex in habitaculis habitavit (Gen. XXV, 27). Esau vero, quem Deus odio habuit, vir gnarus venandi fuit.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.4.4 — And Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering.
  2. ↩Matt.5.11-Matt.5.12 — Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say every kind of evil against you falsely on my account. Matt.5.12 — Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in the heavens; for in this way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
  3. ↩1John.3.12 — We must not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, but his brother's were righteous.
  4. ↩Mark.5.1-Mark.5.20;Luke.8.26-Luke.8.39 — And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. Mark.5.2 — And when he had come out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Mark.5.3 — He had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. Mark.5.4 — because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles had been shattered, and no one had the strength to subdue him." Add final period for sentence closure. Mark.5.5 — And night and day among the tombs and among the mountains he was crying out and cutting himself with stones. Mark.5.6 — And when he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him Mark.5.7 — And crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." Mark.5.8 — For he was saying to him, "Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!" Mark.5.9 — And he asked him, "What is your name?" And he said to him, "Legion is my name, because we are many." Mark.5.10 — And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region. Mark.5.11 — Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there near the mountain. Mark.5.12 — And they begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, so that we may enter them." Mark.5.13 — And he gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea — about two thousand of them — and they were drowned in the sea. Mark.5.14 — And the ones tending them fled and reported it in the city and in the countryside, and they came to see what had happened. Mark.5.15 — And they come to Jesus, and they see the one who had been demon-possessed, sitting, clothed and in his right mind—the one who had had the legion—and they were afraid. Mark.5.16 — And those who had seen it told them what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and about the pigs. Mark.5.17 — And they began to beg him to depart from their region. Mark.5.18 — And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-pressed begged to be with him. Mark.5.19 — And he did not allow him, but said to him, "Go to your house, to your people, and declare to them how much the Lord has done for you, and that he has had mercy on you." Mark.5.20 — And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed. Luke.8.26 — And they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. Luke.8.27 — But when he had come out onto the land, a certain man from the city met him, who had demons, and for a long time he had not put on clothing, and he did not remain in a house, but among the tombs. Luke.8.28 — When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice he said, "What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." Luke.8.29 — For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many times it had seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and breaking the bonds, he was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Luke.8.30 — Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," because many demons had entered into him. Luke.8.31 — And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Luke.8.32 — Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter those pigs, and he gave them permission. Luke.8.33 — Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. Luke.8.34 — When those who had been tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and in the countryside. Luke.8.35 — They went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Luke.8.36 — And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man was made well. Luke.8.37 — Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. But he, having gotten into a boat, returned. Luke.8.38 — But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Luke.8.39 — Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
  5. ↩Job.12.4 — I have become a laughingstock to my friend—I who call upon God and He answers me—a laughingstock, the righteous and blameless one.
  6. ↩Exod.8.26 — And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the LORD.
  7. ↩Exod.8.26 — And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the LORD.
  8. ↩Exod.8.26 — And Moses went out from Pharaoh and entreated the LORD.
  9. ↩Gen.4.8 — And Cain said to Abel his brother, 'Let us go out to the field.' And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
  10. ↩Job.2.9 — Then his wife said to him, "Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Curse God and die."
  11. ↩Luke.10.30 — Jesus replied, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and went away, leaving him half dead."
  12. ↩Gen.34.1 — And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
  13. ↩Gen.25.27 — The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
  14. ↩Gen.25.27 — The boys grew up. Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
  15. ↩Mal.1.2-Mal.1.3;Rom.9.13 — "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob. Mal.1.3 — but Esau I hated. And I made his mountains a desolation and his inheritance a haunt for the jackals of the wilderness. Rom.9.13 — Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The contrast between Egyptian disdain and Israelite offering echoes Exod. 8:26, where Moses insists on sacrificing 'the abomination of the Egyptians' in the wilderness rather than in Egypt.
  2. 2 ↩The allegorical reading: 'going out' signifies turning away from spiritual realities toward worldly externals. Abel represents the contemplative; Cain represents worldly aggression.
  3. 3 ↩The sentence describes how the worldly lead the spiritually minded astray through bad example or persuasive speech.
  4. 4 ↩Job's wife (cf. Job 2:9) is presented as a type of worldly temptation urging the faithful to abandon their integrity.
  5. 5 ↩The sentence describes how those who profess faith but live worldly lives are received into the Church community, and their example — precisely because they are received — becomes imitable by others, to their spiritual danger. The phrase 'usque ad fidei cubile' (as far as the resting place of faith) is a striking image of partial or superficial incorporation.
  6. 6 ↩The exhortation contrasts interior devotion with worldly example. 'Interior desires' here means desires directed toward God and spiritual goods, not merely private feelings.
  7. 7 ↩The first clause is an allegorical reading of the Good Samaritan parable (Luke 10:30): the man who 'went down from Jerusalem to Jericho' represents the soul departing from spiritual peace into worldly danger. The second clause alludes to the rape of Dinah (Gen. 34:1), where Dinah 'went out to see the daughters of the land.'
  8. 8 ↩Quotation from Genesis 25:27 (Vulgate). The Latin 'simplex' carries the sense of upright, guileless, or wholehearted simplicity.
  9. 9 ↩'vero' rendered as 'on the other hand' to capture the adversative contrast between Jacob (simple, dwelling in tents) and Esau (outdoorsman, hunter).
  10. 10 ↩'quem Deus odio habuit' — 'whom God hated' — echoes Malachi 1:2–3 and Romans 9:13. The force here is that God's disfavor rested on Esau as a figure of worldly attachment, contrasting with Jacob's interior simplicity.

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