The book of Iyov (Job) contains Hashem’s answer to that most troubling question of suffering. The book opens with a series of challenges posed to Hashem regarding the saintliness of Iyov. What is puzzling is not only why Hashem accepts these challenges but who is challenging Hashem. he challenger is identified as השטן. Who is this שטן? In Hebrew proper nouns are capitalized (actually nothing is capitalized because there are no capital letters in Hebrew). So we don’t know if השטן is a sort of job title or is it a name? If it is a name is whose name is it?
Rav Sadiah Gaon has a remarkable explanation for “השטן” and the question of suffering which we will study today.