I now recall more of his weird little games with people like Cain and Abel, Abraham and Issac, Job, et. All those seemingly cynical tales may simply be reminding us of the problem of scale. We can't expect to understand what a minor human-scale event such as guilt signifies on the scale of the Universe. Thanks for your kind letter and the suggestions for further study. It is doubtful that many humans are capable of feeling guilt over violating some general ethical principle.
Ethics are remote, bloodless, and intellectual.
Philosophers may dispute them at length, or arrange them in systems, but the man in the street is mostly concerned with morals, and with the inward and outward consequences of an immoral act. Note that morals offer no system, theory, or descipline. And until recently in some parts of the world, a true man must have collected at least one head from the enemy by a certain age. Failing that he is a moral deviate. Consider youth gangs today, and the similarities.