[.ca] Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (ISBN 1598560786)

Complete Commentary on every Verse:
Matthew Henry's commentary covers every verse in the Bible. If you have a question on a particular verse, you can always turn to Matthew Henry and he'll give you some insight on the meaning as well as link it to other verses that talks about that concept. This edition has extremely small font size and is very hard on the eyes to read. In one sitting it is probably wise to only study about 5 verses in depth, as it is definitely full of meaning and not for skimming.

Superb Commentary of God's Word:
I gave Henry 4 stars (I wish I could have given 4.5 stars), not because the books lack greatness and longevity, but because the text and theology are somewhat dated. (I have the 6 Vol set) This commentary is exhaustive in its look at Scripture and takes on many issues and many points that commentaries usually do not delve into. And, Henry typically deals with these topics very well. There have been many advances in historical and cultural knowledge regarding the Biblical times since Henry wrote this and the text can be hard to read at times. But, with this said, I absolutely recommend that every Christian has this commentary set, simply because few commentaries have such depth and breadth as Henry's. There are a few commentary sets that are better and up-to-date (Gaebelein's Expositor's Commentaries (OT and NT= 13 Vol)), but to start a library, one can not do better than to start with Henry's works. They will help guide you in your search for Christ-like behavior. As with all commentaries though, know that none is perfect and study accordingly.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible:
In plain english, the mysteries of the Bible are explainted. Written in the 15th century, the lessons of his time are even more relevant today. If you ever wanted a companion to the Bible that will allow you to understand the Bible and make it relevant to your everyday life, this is the book for you.

I suppose there are worse Commentaries:
The ease at which this book can be read and its "cleverness" can not and should not be mistaken with the worth this work should be appropriately given, or in this case not given. I certainly wouldn't go searching for a Commentary that was worse than this. Matthew Henry has incredibly taken a marvelous work and tossed it on its side and in the process, loses much of the greatness within the words of the Old Testament. The greatest weakness is the time of its writing, before any great insight could have been determined through the archaeology and scripture study. This and its inherent design feature to overlook obvious doublets and themes of the individual stories warrants an extremely careful and educated read of this book. Granted, this book will work well if one wants to take the holy scriptures and adapt them to their own personal ideaology, stripping the words of their original meaning. However, if one wants to actually delve into the scriptures and unlock the hidden doorways of information within their words, this book will hardly give such an experience and enlightenment.

Good for its purpose:
I purchased this commentary under the reference of a friend. After reading Henry's commentary for Matthew's Gospel and the book of Romans, I soon discovered that he wasn't really concerned with a careful exegesis -- considering the historical context and theological significance of a given passage -- but he wanted to write a life-application commentary. I'm not too concerned with the ladder, so this commentary isn't of much use for me. I must concede, it is a great commentary for its purpose. If you're a new Christian, or just a Christian who isn't concerned with the in-depth historical and theological interpretation of a text, this is the commentary for you.