I go for John Gill first, John Calvin second, Matthew Henry third.

__________________
Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

I say Calvin first, Henry second and Gill third. Though Gill is gaining more esteem in my opinion the more I read from him.

__________________
James Helbert, Wytheville, VA
Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCUS
TheBibleAlone.com / The Edinburgh Inn
"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” - Zechariah 3:2

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Do I really have to choose just one???

I chose Mathew Henry because his is the only complete work of the group. (or at least the only one I have used.

__________________
Bryan Riddle
1689 London Baptist Confession
Bethel Baptist Church Owasso, Oklahoma

is Gill online anywhere?

__________________
J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College

Sure, it's available right here.

__________________
Andrew

I like this site as well: Classic Bible Commentaries

__________________
Ryan Barnhart - Pastor of OGBC
Husband to a beautiful wife, Father to two beautiful girls
Student at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary - B.D.

"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms. And in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." - John Paton

My personal top 3 favorites are Poole, Henry, and Calvin.

A couple of plugs for Poole:

Charles Spurgeon, Commenting and Commentaries:

Joel Beeke & Randall Pederson, Meet the Puritans, p. 487:

Poole seems to be the one I use the most frequently for my daily devotional reading.

Are the Dutch Annotations on line anywhere in English?

I like some Matt Henry!

__________________
et

I don't believe so. The English facsimile is available at Reformation Heritage Books. Inheritance Publications is reprinting it in modern English too. It's also available on CD in pdf form from Still Water Revival Books.

Gill.

Who's McGarvey and Pendleton?

__________________
Conscience may lash us, but it cannot replenish a languishing life. Conscience may be God's word and minister to you, telling you of your faults and your follies and your destitution. It may point out, but it will never supply you. Christ must give you new life. Hart has well expressed it: "He to the feeble and the faint, His mighty aid makes known; and when their languid life is spent, supplies it with His own." - J. K. Popham

Not a single vote for John Trapp.

Who's John Trapp?

An older Bible commentator .

I thought only Anglicans read Trapp. The results of this poll indicates that may be the case. Is he online anywhere?

__________________
Thomas Yeutter,
Mason, MI
Member St. Patrick's Anglican Church, Comstock, MI

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach its statues in Isreal.

Henry is who I look to first

I like Gill, I have his complete works on disc. I have Calvin's institutes but none of his Bible commentaries. I have Matthew Henry's commentary all in one volume (the one with the real small print that's extreemly hard to read) and appreciate his work as well.

__________________
Donald Jacobs
Roanoke VA.
Covenant Reformed Episcopal Church.

Cum vero infirmor tunc potens sum.

Here's a brief article on him. He is also referenced by Beeke & Pederson in Meet the Puritans.

I read him; he's just not in my top three. Charles Spurgeon spoke very highly of him. However, as far as I know, he is not online.

I lead a small group that is studying the OT right now, and Gill's commentary which incorporates Jewish historians' commentary has been VERY helpful. So much so that I really want to get it in print and not just on eSword.

__________________
Dan Pemberton
Vacaville, CA

Member, First Baptist Church San Luis Obispo
Formerly ABUSA (We left, so I guess that makes us American Baptists Unleashed!)

Well Calvin is running away with this one . Still not a single vote for John Trapp.

Maybe it's because not very many people have read Gill or Poole, Henry is a little too general in his writings, and no one has heard of Trapp.

For the record, here is what Spurgeon says about Trapp:

I just ordered my first Calvin set! 22 volumes, is he as (for lack of a better word) enjoyable to read as M. Henry?

As far as the list of best older (full-length) Bible commentators, besides the options given, I would add:

Dutch Annotations
English Annotations
John Diodati
Jamieson, Faucett, and Brown
Keil & Delitzsch

The translations of these works are also valuable because they provide the Dutch and Italian Bible renderings in English.

__________________
Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

IMO, Calvin is a real joy to read because he writes with a pastor's heart.

Good! I enjoy reading commentary written that way.

Jameison, Fauscett and Brown and Keil & Delitzsch are too recent to count.

Ok!

Here are some comments which may also be of interest concerning some of the older full-length Bible commentators:

Edward Bickersteth, The Christian Student, Designed to Assist Christians in General in Acquiring Religious Knowledge. With a List of Books Suitable for a Minister's Library (1830), pp. 293-294:

Matthew Poole's Synopsis: "Poole's Synopsis is very valuable."

Matthew Poole's Annotations: "Judicious and full."

John Brown of Haddington's Self-Interpreting Bible: "Short evangelical notes and reflections, and a useful introduction."

John Gill: "Valuable for Rabbinical learning; a variety of meanings suggested; Calvinistic in sentiment."

Matthew Henry: "Very practical and edifying, lively, sound, and devotional."

English Annotations: "Sometimes furnish valuable remarks, not in other Commentaries."

John Mayer: "A Synopsis of the best preceding Commentators, with additions of his own."

John Trapp: "...contains many useful remarks with much quaint wit."

John Diodati: "Often has spiritual and evangelical remarks of much value."

Johannes Piscator: "Many good hints in these Commentaries."

David Pareus: "Have too much of what is valuable to be omitted in this list."

John Calvin: "...of inestimable value to every minister."

Another to add to the list is Cotton Mather. Reiner Smolinski, who has been a great support of The Matthew Poole Project, I might add, is republishing Mather's Biblia Americana.

That poor Trapp fellow did not get one vote!

Besides Calvin & Gill, how many of these are available online?

From this list...Matthew Henry is available online. And select chapters from Genesis in Matthew Poole's Synopsis are online (see the link in my sig). Matthew Poole's Annotations, the English Annotations, Diodati's Annotations (and the Dutch Annotations) are all available in electronic form from various sources. The others are not available online or in electronic form, so far as I know.

Portions of John Trapp's commentary on the Bible are now available online as noted here:

http://www.puritanboard.com/358646-post6.html

1. Poole first, then-
2. Calvin
3. Henry
4. Gill

I have very rarely consulted John Trapp.

__________________
Sterling Harmon
Presbyterian Church of Coventry (PCA)
Coventry, CT
Deacon
________________

"Whatever is laudable in our works proceeds from the grace of God."
-- John Calvin, Institutes III:xv.3.

"Our Lord God must be a good man, to be fond of worthless fellows. I cannot like them, and yet I, myself, am one."
-- Martin Luther, Table Talk
Interim Pulpit Supply of New England

My Facebook

Owner/Administrator @ Reformed Theology Institute

I voted for Calvin, number 1. I don't know Trapp, but pretty much all on that list are men you should regularly consult. Calvin's advantage is his focus on the text, with minimal digression. Poole's 3 vols are basically similar to a modern study Bible: a bit more to it than that. Henry basically preaches the text; his average treatment contains much expansion on the material, really pulls in the rest of Scripture when discussing the passage under consideration.

(By the way, I don't know about Trapp's comments, but only Gill did the whole Bible all by himself--Calvin's set never pretends to the full gamut; Henry's final volume was completed by students, friends, and admirers; Poole's was completed by acquaintances, having access to his other writings).

__________________
Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


When posting friends, kindly bear those words of earthly wisdom in mind:
Oh, that God the gift would give us
To see ourselves as others see us.
--Robert Burns, 1786 (modernized) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions? --

There are a lot of individuals who have written commentaries on the entire Bible besides Gill, including Trapp. I listed some of them in this thread:

Bible Commentary

Whether they commented on every single verse specifically is a separate issue, and I haven't yet fully researched that point.

I would have to say John Calvin his writing style and exposition is very readable and easy to comprehend.

__________________
Aaron
Independent Baptist
Holland MI
Blog: earthdwell22.blogspot.com

My vote- For superb pastoral and exegetical handling John Calvin and then for all the brilliance of Puritan thought and wisdom - JOHN TRAPP!!

Those who have never read Trapp should do so - you'll be hooked!

__________________
Satch, Particular Baptist, England
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Colossians 3.1
http://www.book-academy.co.uk For FREE downloadable pdf commentaries recommended by C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon's works, and Great Puritan works.
ECCLESIA REFORMATA ET SEMPER REFORMANDA