Gary North

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth (Gen. 4:8- 12.

Cain killed his brother because his brother had offered a sacrifice acceptable to God, whereas Cain's sacrifice had not been acceptable.

Cain did not benefit directly from the murder of Abel. His sacrifice would be no more acceptable to God than it had been before. In fact, it would be less acceptable. He was now a murderer. He did not kill Abel as a way to gain acceptance with God. He killed him because he resented the fact that Abel had experienced a success, whereas Cain had experienced a failure. Cain was so upset by discrepancy between Abel's success and his own failure that he believed that he could escape this sense of inferiority only by killing Abel.

He did not kill Abel to gain anything that belonged to Abel. He did not kill Abel in order to gain favor with God. He killed Abel because he resented the fact that Abel had been successful, and he had not been successful.

ENVY

This was the sin of envy. Envy is a highly specific sin. It is resentment against another person's success when that person's success in no way produced failure for the envious person.

Abel did not harm Cain. They both could have brought acceptable sacrifices. There was nothing about Abel's sacrifice that kept Cain's sacrifice from being accepted by God. Abel's success was completely independent of Cain's failure. Abel did not cause Cain's failure.

There was nothing that Abel could have done or could do in the future that would make Cain's sacrifice acceptable to God. Cain deeply resented the success of Abel. He resented it so much that he killed him.

There was nothing that Abel could have done to buy off his brother. The very fact that he would have been in a position to buy off his brother would have constituted another reason for hating him. Cain resented the success of Abel. Any form of payment from Abel would have reminded Cain that Abel was in a better position than Cain was. There was no way that Abel could have escaped his brother's resentment by any payment to his brother.

This is why envy is so difficult to deal with. It cannot be placated by the victim. The fact that the victim is in a position to placate the envious person only makes the envious person more envious. He resents the fact that the other person is in a position to grant him any benefit whatsoever.

Jealousy is different from envy. Jealousy can be bought off. If somebody is jealous about another person's possessions, he wants the other person's possessions. If there is some way that he can gain ownership of some or all of these possessions, the jealous person will be satisfied. The jealous person can be bought off. He does not resent them richer person because of the person's riches. He just wants some of those riches. He wants the rich person to share with him.

The envious person does not want the rich person to share with him. He resents the fact that the rich person is in a position to share anything with him. He does not wish to settle the matter by gaining access to the other person's possessions. He wants to tear the other person down, irrespective of whether this will benefit him.

WORSE OFF

In the case of Cain, his murder of his brother made him a much worse off. God was angry with Cain. Cain's sacrifice would not be acceptable. He also risked being killed by one of his brothers. Somebody would be after him. He would have no rest.

So, despite the fact that he knew that he would be better off by not killing his brother, he killed him anyway. He knew there would be negative consequences, but he did not care. He knew he would be worse off, but he accepted this, because his brother would be even worse on still. His brother would be pulled down from his position of superiority. There would no longer be a discrepancy between his brother's favor with God in his own district or with God. Cain's disfavor with God would increase, but he regarded this as a reasonable consequence of killing his brother. He was assessed with the fact that his brother was in a position of superiority to them.

The destructive power of envy has been controlled in the West because of preaching against this sin. It took 1000 years of preaching against envy to suppress it. As Christianity has faded in influence in the West, envy has increased.

CLOSE PROXIMITY

Envy is directed against someone only slightly better off. It is not wealth alone that triggers envy. Famous professional athletes and entertainers are extremely wealthy. Their popularity with so many people makes it possible for them to command very high salaries. Entertainers are able to sell their services to millions of people, who are willing to pay a little bit of money for the privilege of being entertained. The same is true with famous athletes.

There is no resentment by the public against these people because of their extreme wealth. The public recognizes that these people are special. Also, these people are so far socially above the general public that the general public has no contact with them. Not having any contact with them, the general public is content with the relationship.

Voters do not single out star athletes and entertainers as targets of special legislation that would take away their money. The reason for this is that these people are considered so far above the general public, as well as servants of the general public, but there is no in the against them. Nobody wants to pull them down just for the sake of pulling them down.

Envy is directed against someone who is close. This proximity may be social, or it may be economic. In some cases, it may be geographical, although it does not have to be. The envious person resents the fact that someone close to him has been more successful. The visibility of this success in relation to the envious person's lack of success is what produces the feeling of envy.

The envious person thinks that this other person does not deserve such success. The envious person is familiar with the successful person, and he makes a judgment that whatever success that person has achieved is illegitimate. This bothers the envious person. He was close socially, educationally, or geographically. Why should he be so successful? What special skills as he have that would make him successful? The envious person thinks that he is in the same league with his victim. This is what produces the envy.

SELF-DEFENSE

One of the ways that a family can protect itself against the effect of envy is to live below its means. The family does not buy a new car every year. Members do not let it be known that they are taking expensive trips to foreign countries. They do not wear the best clothes or shop at the most expensive stores. They make it plain to the people around them that they have not changed. They do not publicly demonstrate that they have been successful economically to a degree that those around them probably could not achieve. They do this because there is still a residual fear of envy. They do not wish to be resented for their success merely because they are in close proximity to people who have been less successful.

In recent American history, the multibillionaire entrepreneur Sam Walton of Wal-Mart lived in the same house that he had bought decades before. He drove a pickup truck. When asked why he drove a pickup truck, he said that it would be silly to take his hunting dogs for a drive in a Cadillac.

But it was more than this. Walton had rules against his senior executives' purchasing very expensive homes in the area. The business was located in Northwest Arkansas, and the people in the region at the time that the company was growing rapidly were much poorer than the national average. Walton was taking precautions against envy. He did not say this, but that seems to have been his motivation. He did not want to be perceived as someone who had changed fundamentally because he was extremely wealthy.

He wanted to make it clear that his wealth was independent of his perception of his social position. Everyone knew he was extremely wealthy. He was believed to be the richest man in the United States. Because of wise tax planning, it turned out at his death that he was not. He had successfully transferred the bulk of his wealth, estate tax-free, to his children by means of trust documents. He certainly was the wealthiest man in the state of Arkansas. His family was the wealthiest family in the world. Yet they did not seem to be the parts of envy. Part of this is because of the Christian culture in which he found himself. Part of it was because of his personal lifestyle.

Someone who is actively pursuing avtivities that will produce great wealth if successful must be willing to put up with envy. Neverthless, it is wise not to exacerbate the situation. The trappings of wealth should be avoided if the person intends to stay in the same social circles, such as church and service clubs.

Getting out of debt does not produce feelings of envy. The person who had been in debt and who has escaped is less likely to purchase needless manifestations of wealth. He has already gone down that path, which was why he had been in so much debt. He has his priorities straight. He knows how to cut the family budget. He avoids credit card debt. He does not try to keep up with the Joneses, let alone get ahead of them. This attitude will deflect envy and also immunize him from the consumerist temptation.