A Commentary on the Holy Bible

Matthew Poole’s A Commentary on the Holy Bible was the only 17th century commentary on the whole bible to remain in extensive use until it became unobtainable in recent years. There are some good reasons why this was so. Matthew Poole’s uncommon gift of compactness and comprehensiveness enabled him to distill into his work material that was generally spread over many folio volumes. When the exhaustiveness of Puritan literature later became a cause of disfavour, Poole’s commentary was exempt from the criticism and even in the 19th century Richard Cecil could say ‘If we must have commentators, as we certainly must, Poole is incomparable, and, I had almost said, abundant of himself.’ His supreme concern is to clarify the meaning of the text.