23:12 the commandment. See note on Job 22:22; also Genesis 26:5. Although it is now lost to us, God had given early man some kind of law code, long before Moses. Whatever this was, it was eventually superseded by the Mosaic laws and the rest of the Scriptures as we now have them.
23:12 necessary food. Job loved and esteemed the words of God, in whatever form he may have had them. God’s Word as our spiritual sustenance, is frequently compared to physical food (Psalm 19:10; Matthew 4:4; Hebrews 5:13-14; I Peter 2:2-3).