I'm not basing my interpretation from just the single word "fear," which could just mean to hold in awe, but also his expressed fears about the safety of his children and the continual need to offer repentance for
possible offenses. He's not just worried about things they've actually done but about things they
might have done that he doesn't know about.
As for pride, sure it is consistent through each of us, so why single Job out over it? Did he voice anything in the beginning of the story to call attention to his pride?
So Job lives his life upright and blameless, not for want of reward but for fear of punishment. And God notices him and points him out to Satan. And Satan says, Yeah sure he's upright and blameless now that you've given him all this stuff, but take it away and he'll curse you.
Satan thinks that Job's behavior is due to desire for reward. God knows better. So God lets Satan take everything away from Job and lo and behold, Job suffers but is still blameless and upright. One could attribute this to his superior moral character. But one could also interpret this as Job being resigned to what he already believed God to be - scary and capricious.
Or both. At any rate, God points out to Satan that Job is still blameless and upright, and
at this point, Satan says, Sure he's upright and blameless because he's afraid of punishment, but afflict him and he'll curse you. So God lets Satan afflict Job, covers him in boils so that not only does he suffer physically but he is made into a social outcast.
His wife tells Job to curse God and die, that is, to recognize that God is not fair and be done with it. But Job continues to suffer without cursing God. His three friends come to visit and at first they commiserate with him his loss, but soon they get into an argument, because his friends are of the opinion that God is always fair - that if you obey the rules and do good then you will be rewarded, and if you are afflicted then it MUST mean that you have done something wrong. Job insists that he is innocent and has done nothing wrong. His friends grow more and more incredulous with every insistence and go from sympathetic to accusatory. It's understandable. If what Job says is correct, then their own worlds are put into doubt. So they start attacking him, insisting that God is always just and that his own refusal to repent is making things worse. It is
THIS that Job cannot stand.
The loss of his property and children he put up with without complaint. Even the affliction against his health and social standing he took. But to be accused of wrong doing when he knew that he had not was too much for him. He is now convinced of what he was always afraid of in the back of his mind - the same fear that his friends have but will not acknowledge, instead getting all self-righteous on him. So he launches into his own diatribe, but against God, demanding that God account for God's actions.
God comes down and says, 'How dare you question God? Where were you when I made the Universe?,' etc To which Job of course has no answer. He acquiesces. At this point, other readers may still be thinking that whatever God does is right by definition, but some readers like myself are like what the heck? All God has done is claim that might makes right. God hasn't justified God's actions against Job and Job was RIGHT; Job did not do anything wrong.
But then God does a very surprising thing. God says that Jobs friends, the ones who were saying that God is always fair were liars, and implies (from my interpretation) that they were "Yes-men" - that they only defended God for fear of their own skins, and that ONLY Job spoke the truth about God. And God is so mad at Job's friends that he demands that they each provide Job with a portion of their own wealth, to appease God's wrath, in exchange for which Job will intercede with God on their behalf.
Job's wealth thereby begins to be restored, and God gives him new children. And the author goes to the trouble of telling you what Job named his new daughters. Women are rarely explicitly mentioned in the OT unless they do something wrong or something bad happens to them, so this is in and of itself noteworthy. And I can't remember the meanings of the names he gives his three daughters but they all have to do with beauty and happy, nice things.
And in the end of the story, Job is back where he was in the beginning - a well respected, wealthy man surrounded by family.
Except for one thing. He
no longer makes sacrifices in atonement for imaginary insults to a wrathful God. He lives his life happy, blameless and upright, and loving God without fear.
By afflicting Job and forcing him to confront his fears, God released Job from them.
The point of the story of Job? It it's
NOT that patience and unquestioning platitudes towards God are rewarded.
In fact, quite the opposite. It's love of God for the sake of love of God. Not for desire for reward, nor for fear of punishment. Life is NOT fair. Bad things happen to good people (and vice versa). Get over it. Love anyway.