Looking for a good bible commentary

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Mooky

Guest
#1
#1
Hi all,

I am looking to invest in a good bible commentary.I sometimes use Matthew Henry - but for me it is a bit hit and miss...he sometimes goes off on a tangent about things which seemingly don't have anything to do with the particular text at hand.

I have considered John MacArthurs commentaries - but somehow I would like a richer and deeper understanding of the bible than he offers - I already know what he thinks about most issues as I listen to many of his sermons.

I would consider a commentary that is suitable for lay people but is also quite comprehensive and that I can buy on amazon for kindle.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
P

pradeep

Guest
#2
#2
Would love to hear some suggestions on this myself, about time I invest in it
 
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Ultimatum77

Guest
#3
#3
A good one to have while not a commentary is a Bible dictionary....Holman makes a great illustrated one....

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Revised and Expanded: C. Brand, C. W. Draper, A. England: 9780805428360 - Christianbook.com

You can actually get free versions of some commentaries on the google play app store for android or use electronic Bible's like E-sword to download words only commentaries online for free sometimes they have name brands like matthew henry, etc....

I generally use a concordance and bible dictionary for any questions about a verse I have :) I agree that matthew henry can have some weird commentary on verses that are so off that you wonder what he was thinking when writing it lol?
 
M

Mooky

Guest
#4
#4
I have never really understood the purpose of a bible dictionary.Could you fill me in please, Ultimatum?How specifically does in help you grasp scripture .....what is the process?
 
resurrection33

resurrection33

Banned
#5
Dec 19, 2009
27,513
128
0
71
#5
Mooky said:
Hi all,

I am looking to invest in a good bible commentary.I sometimes use Matthew Henry - but for me it is a bit hit and miss...he sometimes goes off on a tangent about things which seemingly don't have anything to do with the particular text at hand.

I have considered John MacArthurs commentaries - but somehow I would like a richer and deeper understanding of the bible than he offers - I already know what he thinks about most issues as I listen to many of his sermons.

I would consider a commentary that is suitable for lay people but is also quite comprehensive and that I can buy on amazon for kindle.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
Bible commentaries are nice, as long as we don't let the commentators do our thinking for us.
 
U

Ultimatum77

Guest
#6
#6
Mooky said:
I have never really understood the purpose of a bible dictionary.Could you fill me in please, Ultimatum?How specifically does in help you grasp scripture .....what is the process?
Click to expand...
Well for example if you wanted to know other names for Moloch it will show you the origin of the religion and alternate names that Molech, moloch and some other names it will show the history of the religion, where it is mentioned in the Bible and perhaps an image of the god....

It really helps when for example you have abraham in the land of Ur....which we know is mesopatamia but what is mesopotamia? you just look up Ur/mesopotamia and it gives the land map along with modern day countries of iran/iraq ....another example is that mount ararat is in modern day turkey and they will show you a picture of it...in the present day...

I think the Bible dictionary more or less is like a concise history/wikipedia for further information on specific topics...maybe not necessarily a commentary though it may provide a little it's more of a history reference book in a way....

I hope I made sense lol....Mostly I enjoy reading the history and seeing the picture where the BIble was walked so to speak....really cool to read the background information on places like mount carmel etc....

For spiritual growth it may not help b/c it's just facts not insight, so a commentary would do better to have a sort of "mini-devotion" if you will and meditate on the meaning of verses...rather than a factual dictionary/bible encyclopedia if you will.....
 
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Ultimatum77

Guest
#7
#7
resurrection33 said:
Bible commentaries are nice, as long as we don't let the commentators do our thinking for us.
Click to expand...
I agree it's just one man's interpretation which should never be taken as pure gospel but as an opinion to sift and take the good and throw out the chaff...
 
M

Mooky

Guest
#8
#8
Ultimatum77 said:
Well for example if you wanted to know other names for Moloch it will show you the origin of the religion and alternate names that Molech, moloch and some other names it will show the history of the religion, where it is mentioned in the Bible and perhaps an image of the god....

It really helps when for example you have abraham in the land of Ur....which we know is mesopatamia but what is mesopotamia? you just look up Ur/mesopotamia and it gives the land map along with modern day countries of iran/iraq ....another example is that mount ararat is in modern day turkey and they will show you a picture of it...in the present day...

I think the Bible dictionary more or less is like a concise history/wikipedia for further information on specific topics...maybe not necessarily a commentary though it may provide a little it's more of a history reference book in a way....

I hope I made sense lol....Mostly I enjoy reading the history and seeing the picture where the BIble was walked so to speak....really cool to read the background information on places like mount carmel etc....

For spiritual growth it may not help b/c it's just facts not insight, so a commentary would do better to have a sort of "mini-devotion" if you will and meditate on the meaning of verses...rather than a factual dictionary/bible encyclopedia if you will.....
Click to expand...

Thank-you , Ultimatum! That was a wonderful explanation.:) Thanks for taking the time to explain that ! Bless you.:)
 
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Depleted

Guest
#9
#9
Mooky said:
Hi all,

I am looking to invest in a good bible commentary.I sometimes use Matthew Henry - but for me it is a bit hit and miss...he sometimes goes off on a tangent about things which seemingly don't have anything to do with the particular text at hand.

I have considered John MacArthurs commentaries - but somehow I would like a richer and deeper understanding of the bible than he offers - I already know what he thinks about most issues as I listen to many of his sermons.

I would consider a commentary that is suitable for lay people but is also quite comprehensive and that I can buy on amazon for kindle.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
Which kind? MH tends to be more of a devotional. If you ever want to learn what the early Jewish scholars thought, try John Gill. (He gets repetitive.) If you want to learn what was happening at the time, the Adam Clarke is your guy. I like Albert Barnes too, albeit it's hard to follow along since he takes on an entire chapter at once, and I'm just working on one concept at a time. Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown is more like an encyclopedia of substance.

Then again, when I'n studying in depth, I'm study what all of them say just to see where they agree and don't, so I can wrap my head around a verse that I used to think I understood.

Those are for the whole bible. I find the ones for individual books tend to fill in the blanks better, since the writer really studied that one book for a long time. I trust Tyndale's individual commentaries. But, being kind of simple in my understanding of the Bible, I need folks who can get down to my level when I know they're far smarter than me, and yet not make me feel stupid or talked down to. And for that kind of book, any book J.M. Boyce ever wrote a study for I bought.
 
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Tintin

Guest
#10
#10
I don't know about Bible commentaries for other books of the Bible, but here's the ultimate commentary for the Book of Genesis (well, the first 11 chapters). It's very comprehensive, focused and about 800 pages long.

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