Skip navigation.
Home
David Miller's UbiquiBlog
Home » Blogs » dpm39560's blog

The Matthew Henry Commentaries

Submitted by dpm39560 on Sun, 08/01/2010 - 09:25

Yesterday, in an errand-running outing, Jan and I stopped into the Lifeway Christian store to see if they had a copy of "Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary," which my friend Mike says is one of the most incisive commentaries ever written, with discussions of every verse in the Bible; and this in spite of the fact that it was written about 1706.

Matthew Henry died in 1714.

Indeed, Lifeway did (does) have a copy of the commentary, in a 6-volume set, for about $70, which was almost half off the regular price of about $130.

Rather than get it right away, we decided to check it out online first, to see if there were even better prices available.

After we left, I began to think that with this commentary being written nearly 300 years ago, there's no question it is in the public domain, so it is very likely online somewhere.

Last night, I checked it out, and indeed, there are several sources to read his commentaries online. I was happy with the first one I checked out, which is at

http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/

Hopefully, you can just click on that and it will take you there. You might want to bookmark that page, as the commentaries are indeed incisive, and it's obvious Matthew Henry was well read and a deep thinker also.

This morning, after breakfast, I was reading Mark 15 aloud, and we came to the passage (v.38) about the veil of the temple being torn from top to bottom. We discussed that for a bit, and Jan said one of the most accepted interpretations of that is that prior to this, only the highest of the high priests could gain access through the veil to the most holy of holies, and with the rending of the veil at the death of Christ, there is no more separation for the people from the most holy of holies, we no longer have to go through the priests to get to God. I was wondering about the literal rending of the veil; all the scripture says is that it "was torn," not anything about whether God did it or what.

So I decided to see what Matthew Henry said about it. I brought my laptop to the table and looked it up.

My goodness, that man has a lot to say! Let me include for you here Henry's commentary in this area, and you can see for yourself the level of thinker he is:

Just at that instant that Christ died upon mount Calvary, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, v. 38. This bespoke a great deal, 1. Of the terror of the unbelieving Jews; for it was a presage of the utter destruction of their church and nation, which followed not long after; it was like the cutting asunder of the staff of beauty (for this veil was exceedingly splendid and glorious, Ex. 26:31), and that was done at the same time when they gave for his price thirty pieces of silver (Zec. 11:10, 12), to break the covenant which he had made with that people. Now it was time to cry, Ichabod, The glory is departed from Israel. Some think that the story which Josephus relates, of the temple door opening of its own accord, with that voice, Let us depart hence, some years before the destruction of Jerusalem, is the same with this; but that is not probable: however, this had the same signification, according to that (Hos. 5:14), I will tear, and go away. 2. It bespeaks a great deal of comfort to all believing Christians, for it signifies the consecrating and laying open to us of a new and living way into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

 
I do believe I'll be using Matthew Henry quite a bit more in the future.

»