Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible - Song of Solomon

As first among the best for usefulness, we are bound to name him whose name is a household word—MATTHEW HENRY. He is eminently pious and pithy, sound and sensible, suggestive and sober, succinct and safe. You will find that he sparkles with metaphors, is rich in analogies, overflows with illustrations, and abounds in reflections. He delights in appositions and alliterations, yet his style is generally plain, suggestive, and full of matter. He goes at once to the sense of the text and supplies the result of an accurate critical knowledge of the originals equal to the best critics of his age. He is profoundly spiritual, heavenly, and beneficial, finds the content of each text, and from all of them draws enormously practical and accurate lessons. His is a type of commentary that ought to be placed where I saw it in the old meeting house in Chester—chained in the lobby so that any person might read it. He is the common man's commentator, the old Christian's companion, suitable for anyone, instructive for all.

“Every minister ought to read Matthew Henry entirely and carefully through at least once. I would recommend that you do so in the twelve months after you leave college. Begin at the beginning, and resolve to go through the land from Dan to Beersheba. You will acquire a vast stock of sermon stuff if you read it with a notebook at your side; thoughts will leap out upon you like swallows twittering around a roof at the approach of autumn. If you preach publicly the chapter you have been reading, your people will be amazed at the novelty of your observations and the profundity of your thoughts, and you will then be able to tell them what a great treasure Henry is.” C.H. Spurgeon