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In Sefer Ha-Ikarim (Part 4, Chapter 4), Joseph Albo notes that there are two ancient opinions concerning the workings of astrology.

• One is the view of the Philosopher, who says that the heavenly bodies and the stars exert an influence upon the lower world by means of their various motions, by which they cause the elements to move, and combine them and prepare them in various ways to receive the natural forms, so that some persons are prepared to acquire wisdom and others are not; some are prepared to receive the divine prophetic influence and others are not... As for any other signification the stars may have in relation to other things which have no connection with their elemental qualities, as for example in the determination of poverty or wealth, or whether a given person will marry one wife or more than one, or whether he will be virtuous or vicious - this school denies any such power. It is false, they say, and extremely unlikely that the stars should give indications of things which have nothing to do with them, like poverty, wealth love, hate, etc.

• The second view is that of the astrologers and star-gazers. They say that all things that happen to a man, do so by the decree of the stars. And they prove it by actual verification. The astrologer tells a person what will happen to him in all particulars, whether he will live long, whether he will be poor or rich, how many wives he will have and so on. This shows that all things that happen to a man are due to the decree of the stars, which it is impossible to escape...Some of the Rabbis hold this view: 'Luck makes one wise, and luck makes one rich' (TB Shabbat 156a).

Clearly, Job held the same opinion as the astrologers, namely, that all human affairs are prescribed and apportioned by the Cosmos.¹ Nahmanides and Gersonides ascribe the same belief to Job. This however raises the question of why, if he did not believe in God's Governance of the sublunar world, Job had offered sacrifices to God lest his children had sinned. Gersonides replies that Job had believed in the immortality of the soul and it was by reason of this that he had done his best to educate his children to the worship of God, even though he did not believe that any material reward would accompany it. Confused as to the workings of Providence, he had wanted to do the right thing and to cover all possibilities and so had acted as though he believed in reward and punishment. However, when the calamities befell him he lost his faith. Malbim's answer to this question, as we shall see, would be that Job never ceased to believe in Providence. The positions and arguments he assumes in the debate were just an act: polemics. This is the principle he lays down at the beginning of his speech, when he curses the night of his conception and the day of his birth, for they had been his ruin (Judges 11:35) (Ch.3:3-10). If they had seen, at the time, that his horoscope prescribed that he was to be a failure during his life, they should have decided upon his extinction, for why should he come into existence just to see strife and sorrow (Jeremiah 20:18)? (Ch.3:10-14).

For man instinctively feels² Literally, 'the impression stamped on man's mind is' that non-existence is bad for him. Thus, he rues any degree of non-existence which may leave him in want of any object in existence, such as a lack of wealth and the like. Above all, he is frightened by the thought of his own total extinction. But all this is only the homeborn child (Leviticus 18:9) of his imagination, after he has already come into existence. This would not be so had he never existed in the first place, for then nothingness and the absence of presence would be equivalent. We could not then delineate the extent of the non-existence, namely, whether he became extinct never having been of great rank or never having been of low rank, for there is no difference between nothingness and nothingness (Ch.3:14-17).³In his glosses, Malbim adds the following explanation:
For persons who actually exist, differences of rank have meaning; one is a king, another a courtier. There are also many levels within existence, the weakest and frailest of which is that of a dead fetus, below which there is only extinction. But such distinctions are meaningless for one who has never existed. There are no degrees within nothingness. It is only man's imagination after he has come into existence which makes him feel that these distinctions are bad. But if he did not exist to begin with, these too would not exist.

And with this he broadens his argument and comes to the same conclusion as that attributed by Maimonides (Guide for the Perplexed Part 3, Chapter 12) to the scholar Al-Razi, namely, that there is more bad than good in the world.
For if the happiness of man and his pleasure in the times of prosperity be compared with the mishaps that befall him, - such as grief, acute pain, defects, paralysis of the limbs, fears, anxieties and troubles, - it would seem as if the existence of man is a punishment and a great evil for him. This author commenced to verify his opinion by counting all the evils one by one.
As the folk-songs and proverbs of many of the peoples of the world say:
'It is a wonder when anything good happens.'
Yea, his misfortunes are many (Deuteronomy 31:17) and enduring too.
Job makes much of this in his argument (Ch.3:17-20).⁴We would all be better off had we not been born because there is always more bad than good in the world. But this would not be the case if God Himself governed.

And even if some other person denies [that the bad outweighs the good] and says that he is bright-eyed with success, enjoying the passage of time as he laps the sweetness of the honeycomb, desirous of life and length of days, for ever and ever (Psalms 21.5). The question [asked by Job] still remains in full force. Why did [the night of his conception and the day of his birth] bring him into existence and give life to one who is only waiting to die? (Ch.3:20).

Moreover, consider the vagaries of destiny. For it is only by reason of this troublemaker (1 Kings 20:7) that a person, who had been desperately poor and destitute all his days, and had longed for and begged the release of death but to whom the stars gave life, suddenly comes upon great treasure and vast wealth, only to die soon after, just when he wanted to live and see the good (Job 7:7). (Ch.3:21).

This clearly shows that the governance of man is subject to the rule of astrology and its ordinances, for good or for bad.⁵Nature's indifference to ethics or morality is an evil that could not possibly be the result of God's Governance. It is the ultimate proof that Governance has been delegated to the blind rule of the Cosmos.
For Nature, heartless, witless Nature
Will neither care nor know. (A.E.Housman). And, furthermore, that man is neither master of his actions nor has freedom over them. Choice and enterprise make no difference whatsoever, for his individual acts are prescribed by order and by reason of the stars, and he is incapable of doing good .nor bad other than at their behest (Ch.3:22-24).
Job asserts that the proof of all this is in what had happened to him. He had considered himself to be a truly righteous man. Accordingly, he could not accept that what had happened to him was God's retribution for wicked deeds he had done. Nor, in the light of the unnatural way in which he had lost his possessions, could he consider that it was all accidental. In the space of just one hour he had been struck by a variety of agents—tempest, fire and hostile action—suddenly and all at once. Clearly, he was under attack from heaven itself. This must have happened because the stars had decreed that at that particular moment his fortune should reverse. (Ch.3:26)
Further proof of this was the premonition he had always felt that the future would be bad. It was as if his mind foresaw that the fate decreed for him by his stars was bad and that he was destined for doom. (Ch.3:25).

Behold! Underlying all the postulates Job put forward was the conviction that God must know everything that happens in the world below. For no lack of knowledge can be ascribed to Him, nor can He be designated a source of injustice. The unfairness in reward or punishment does not ensue from God. It is caused by the stars. For man has no freedom over his actions; he is compelled in what he does.
All of this will be further clarified by the proofs Job will be presenting in his coming arguments, one by one.

Job’s Address
Now Job raised his voice Heb. ויען, he cried out, for every expression of עניה in the Torah is only an expression of raising the voice, and the “father” of them all is (Deut. 27:14): “The Levites shall raise their voices (וענו) etc. with a loud voice.”

in which I was to be born This is a future expression, that he was saying, “Would that the day in which I was destined to be born be lost, and then I would not have been born.”

Convinced that the shattering series of catastrophes that had befallen him was totally unwarranted and that, as such, it could not have originated with God, for that would imply an imperfection in His Governance, Job attributes its occurrence to the bad luck of his birth, namely, to his horoscope. In which case, it would have been better had he never been conceived or born.

and the night That too should have been lost.

when one said that the reporter, upon whom it was incumbent [to report] would say.

“A man has impregnated.” That my father impregnated my mother. Concerning a female, it is customary to say הרתה, she conceived, and concerning a male, it is customary to say, הורה, he impregnated the female.

and the night when one said This is one of the places where Scripture abbreviates its words because it is unnecessary to explain who [the subject] is, and the expression means, “the sayer said.” [Similar to this is (Amos. 6:12), “Will horses run on the rock, or will one plow with cattle?” He should have said, “Will a man plow with cattle?”] However, our Sages said, “The angel appointed over conception is named Laylah.”

May that day be dark constantly; every year, when that day arrives.

let God not seek it from above for good.

and let no light shine upon it Heb. נהרה,light, like צהר, which is translated נהור.

defile it Heb. יגאלהו, like (Malachi 1:7), “defiled (מגאל) bread”; “How have we defiled You (גאלנוך)?” an expression of contamination.

the shadow of death Heb. צלמות, the shadow of death, darkness that never lights up.

like demons of the day Heb. כמרירי, demons who rule at noon, like (Deut. 32: 34), “Ketev Meriri,” who rules at noon; as it is stated (Ps. 91:6): “from Ketev, who rules at noontime.”

it shall not rejoice among the days Heb. אל יחד, it shall not rejoice, as in (Exod. 18:9), “And Jethro rejoiced (וַיִחַד).” (Another explanation is: It shall not join. This does not appear in certain editions.)

lonely Alone and lacking any man or creature.

curse it Heb. יקבהו, curse it, as in (Num. 22:17), “curse (קבה) for me.”

those who curse the day Those who curse their days, since they intend to pronounce a curse because of their anguish.

those destined to be childless in their union Heb. ערר לויתן, to be childless (ערירים) in their union; to join their mate in the union of man and wife, without children. And I saw in the Jerusalem Talmud (Moed Katan 1:5) that עֹרֵר means, to lament their mate when he dies, as in (Moed Katan 1:6): A person may not inspire lamentations (יערער) for his dead relative.

its evening Heb. נשפו, the darkness of its night.

the rays of Heb. עפעפי, rays of, like (Jer. 9:17), “and our eyelids (or pupils) (ועפעפינו) gush water.”

For He did not shut He Who was able to shut. This too is one of the verses that resemble “the night when one said” (verse 2).

the doors of my womb from which I emerged, for had He done so, He would have hidden trouble from my eyes.

Why did I not die from the womb? why was I not ready to die immediately upon my emergence from the womb? He speaks in the future tense, as though he were standing now on the day of his emergence from the womb and saying, “Why will I not die now, and why did I not... emerge from the belly and perish?” Why was my death not imminent?

Why did knees receive me Why did the knees of my mother receive me before my death?

that I should suck [Why] was it decreed upon me to suck them? As he is speaking on the day of his birth, he mentions those subsequent events in the future tense.

I would be lying Heb. ושכבתי, I would be lying in the grave.

who build ruins for themselves It is customary for those who seek fame to rebuild ruined cities as a memorial for themselves, as in (Isa. 58: 12), “And those coming from you shall be called the repairer of the breaches.” That is to say, with princes and famous people. Or, would that I was unknown, and I would be like a stillborn. What Scripture states: I was not like a hidden stillborn, is because it continues with the language with which it started to speak, viz. in the interrogative, and it refers to “Why did knees receive me...or why was I not like a hidden stillborn child?”

Job now argues that, in general, extinction is preferable to existence and that it would have been better for man had he never been created, for the bad in the world always outweighs the good.
For persons who actually exist, differences of rank have meaning; one is a king, another a courtier. There are also many levels within existence, the weakest and frailest of which is that of a dead fetus, below which there is only extinction. But such distinctions are meaningless for one who has never existed. There are no degrees within nothingness. It is only man's imagination after he has come into existence which makes him feel that these distinctions are bad. But if he did not exist to begin with, these too would not exist.

like infants Heb. כעוללים, infants. He calls them עוללים because they are all play and dirt, like (below 16:15), “And I sullied (ועללתי) with dust,” and like (Jud. 19:25), “and abused (ויתעללו) her the entire night.”

cease from anger They restrain their anger, with which they were accustomed and wont to cause anger in the earth.

and there...rest Heb. ינוחו, and there rested. Something that occurs regularly is written in the future tense.

Small and great are there There it is obvious who is esteemed and who is humble, and since that greatness is perpetual greatness, and that humility is perpetual humility...

Why does He give (the giver, i.e., the Holy One, blessed be He.)

But not everyone suffers all the time. There are some who are successful and happy and enjoy life. However, the distribution is random and indiscriminate and so their joy is either at the expense of others or a snare to themselves. The sunrise, at which they rejoice, marks the start of another day of drudgery for the manual worker forced to labor. The life that the fortunate enjoy others hate. The wheel of fortune raises a man's spirits only to crush him cruelly afterwards.

the toiler light He who grew up with toil and trouble—why did He give him perpetual light and not slay him at birth?

Who await death to those of bitter spirit, who long for and desire death and complain, saying, “it is not here.”

Malbim pictures the irony of the desperate and destitute man, who spends his entire life longing for the release of death, and who, upon discovering buried treasure in his old age, is buried alive when the walls of the pit in which he found the treasure cave in on him. Such is the caprice of destiny.

and they spy after it Heb. ויתפרהו, and they spy after it.

more than after hidden treasures More than people spy after hidden treasures.

Those who are happy over joyous occurrences and rejoice if they find a grave.

over joyous occurrences Because of the joy and the happiness of finding a grave.

for a man whose way is hidden All the good deeds that he performed were hidden from the Great Recompenser, and He did not look at them.

and God hedged him in He made a wall in front of him to shut him up in a prison, as in (Hos. 2:8) “Behold I will close off your way.”

comes Heb. תבא, lit. shall come.

pour An expression of (Exod. 9:33) “pour (נתך) to the ground.” They run and descend like water. The word ויתכו may also be interpreted as an expression denoting abundance.

the thing I feared All my life, I stood in fear of this, as I said (1:5): “Now it would come about, when the cycle of the feasting would days be over, etc.”

Job had had a premonition, but despite all he had done to try and prevent the calamities when their pre-appointed time came, his very worst fears were fulfilled. There was no way he could escape his destiny.

What I dreaded—Behold!

I was not at ease from this worry, and behold, trouble has come.