The answer is: Seven days

Job 2:13 - Seven days was the usual time of mourning. Perhaps they joined him in this period, not that they stayed in one posture for the entire seven days.

In the Book of Job, when his friends come to visit him after his immense suffering, they sit silently for seven days—a profound gesture reflecting ancient mourning customs. This practice of sitting shiva is still honored in some cultures today, showing that empathy doesn't always need words, just presence.

What's fascinating about this seven-day silence is how it echoes throughout Scripture, linking Job’s experience to the completion seen in creation narratives, where God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Here, sitting for a full seven days underscores the gravity of Job's plight and transforms the number into a powerful symbol of mourning.

Interestingly, no one speaks until Job breaks the silence, perhaps indicating that true companionship exists not solely in sharing wisdom but also in being there, together in shared grief. This poignant message invites readers to reflect upon their own responsibilities to listen and support those who are suffering.

Moreover, themes found in other scripts resonate here—think of Ecclesiastes, which touches on the time for everything, emphasizing that sometimes, we need time for grief before the healing can begin. Through Job’s narrative, we are encouraged to ponder the sheer depth of human experience, eliciting both a reminder of our kinship in hardship and the complexity of trying to understand suffering. In essence, sometimes less truly is more.