Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: Genesis

“As being first among the best for usefulness, we are bound to mention him whose name is now a household word: MATTHEW HENRY. He is most pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, succinct and trustworthy. You will find him to sparkle with metaphors, to be rich in analogies, to abound in illustrations, and to overflow with reflections. He delights in appositions and alliterations, but his style is, on the whole, simple, evocative, and full of content. He sees the meaning of the text directly and offers the result of a thorough critical knowledge of the originals on par with the best critics of his time. He is deeply spiritual, heavenly, and beneficial; he finds the content of each text and from all of them draws enormously practical and accurate lessons. His is a type of commentary that should be placed where I saw it in the old meeting house in Chester: chained in the vestibule so that anyone could read it. It is the commentary of the common man, the Christian's old companion, suitable for anyone, instructive for all.

Every pastor should read Matthew Henry completely and carefully at least once. I recommend that you do it in the twelve months after finishing seminary. Start from the beginning, and set out to traverse the land from Dan to Beersheba. You will acquire an enormous supply for your sermons if you read it with a notebook in hand; thoughts will flutter around you like chirping swallows around a roof at the arrival of autumn. If you publicly expose the chapter you have been reading, your congregation will be amazed by the novelty of your observations and the depth of your thoughts, and then you can tell them what a great treasure Henry is.” –C.H. Spurgeon