R. Simon Ashenburg in Debek Tob reconciles a contradiction in the Bible regarding the name of Issachar's son which is given as Yov (יוב) in Genesis 46:13 and elsewhere as Yashuv (ישוב) in Numbers 26:24 by explaining that his name was really Yov but since that matches the name of an idolatrous deity, an extra ש was added to his name so he was called Yashuv.
My question is whether we know of any ancient mythology which had a god named Yov (or Yob, or Iob or Job) or something similar.
A friend of mine wrote to me that this is probably a reference to "Jove" which is another name for the Roman god Jupiter.
According to Wikipedia, there was an Egyptian deity named Iabet, sometimes also known as Iab.
If this is what Rabbi Ashenburg is referring to, then perhaps the story was that prior to arriving in Egypt, the sons of Jacob were only vaguely aware of the more major Egyptian deities and therefore Issachar saw nothing wrong with Yov. Upon arriving in Egypt and discovering the many different Egyptian deities, including this minor goddess, he decided a name-change was in order.
