When I started getting serious about Substack, I wanted to post two articles a week - John Cheever story on Mondays and a Job chapter on Thursdays. That didn’t work out as planned. I think that since I posted articles on Tumblr, I assumed that I could just give them light revisions and send them out on Substack. However, I delved deeper into both Cheever and Job. I also wanted to ask for subscribers which meant I needed to produce better articles than the rough drafts you find on Tumbler. Speaking of which -
With that in mind, I want to still give my readers something, especially readers who joined later in the series. So for everyone who is enjoying the Job (Iyov) chapters, here is where I started out.
First there was the introduction.
Then there is chapter one where I discuss Satan in Jewish lore. Or at very least discuss Satan in the original text. Later on, Satan would take on a different life in both Jewish and Christian mythology. Tip of the hat to Zoroastrianism with its emphasis on darkness vs. light. Then there’s the melding of Satan with Lucifer, an emperor or a king who was sarcastically referred to as the common name for the planet Venus.
Then there’s chapter two. Satan is still in the book. In many ways, these early chapters are merely a prologue to the meat of the philosophical novel where Job and his friends struggle with the concept of suffering and why we suffer. In order to get to the discuss, Job has to suffer with a skin condition after his life is thoroughly destroyed.
Since I’m a freelance writer and AI has been taking many of my jobs, please consider helping me with my late rent.
I just figured out my profits from Dybbuk Press for the last year and it’s been depressing. Please buy a copy of Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre