angela hormberg

Category: Matthew Henry’s Commentary

  • Reading through the Psalms: A Practice

    Reading through the Psalms: A Practice

    My daily practice of reading through the Psalms grew out of a desire to focus on thankfulness. One November a few years ago, in anticipation of the celebration of Thanksgiving, I had been reading various blogs where authors challenged themselves to commemorate the holiday by noting each day, over the course of the month, one thing they were thankful for. As someone who thinks and (over)analyzes a lot, I thought it was a good idea to participate, because, all too often, I ruminate over some thing that is bothersome, in order to resolve the problem, and end up tarrying too long on things that do not bring happiness. Dwelling on and over problems has always been a part of my makeup; it’s what made me a good accountant. But, as Aristotle points out in Nichomachean Ethics,

    “one ought to choose the mean, and not the excess or deficiency” (102).

    As is often the case, multiple things came up around the same time which pointed me to participate in actively recounting all my blessings on a daily basis. While I was reading the blogs on thankfulness, I had also been reading Charlotte Mason, a nineteenth century educator, who wrote on a variety of topics related to home education, including how to help a child learn the habit of attention, which

    “is simply the act by which the whole mental force is applied to the subject at hand” (Mason 145).

    Further, during this time, I had also been longing to spend more time in the Word and was pondering the command to actively

    bring “into captivity every thought” (2 Cor 10:5, KJV).

    Lingering over all the lovely things I was thankful for in my life sounded much better than continually stewing over stressful thoughts. I endeavored to spend some time each morning recording in a notebook specific things I was thankful for. Through the process of pondering all the blessings received at the hand of our Creator, blessings became more obvious. It proved a fruitful time, and I noticed a marked improvement in my state of mind. Problems still came to my mind, but I made an effort to catch unruly thoughts before they stampeded out of control and steer them back to the good. None of this is new. Who hasn’t heard the old adage, ‘count your blessings’? The difference for me was moving from hearing it to actively doing it every day (or as near to every day as possible).

    This continued for some time, but, eventually, I wanted something to anchor my habit to. What better anchor than the Word? So, I began reading a Psalm each day and recording the attributes of God I found in the respective Psalm, as a daily reminder of all the reasons there are to be thankful for such a good, good Father. Again, the habit proved fruitful, as my focus on God elevated my thoughts heavenward.

    I made my way through all the Psalms and decided to keep going, when I finished. After repeating the journey through the first forty Psalms, I decided to add another dimension to my study by perusing Matthew Henry’s Commentary related to the Psalm I was reading for the day, thereby learning from a fellow Christian, who has since passed through this world, and gleaning from his laying down of

    “those great and sacred principles which [he went] upon, and [was] governed by, in this endeavor to explain and improve these portions of holy writ” (xcix).

    Is his commentary applicable to this era? Yes! And what follows after this introductory post, is a collection of a twenty-first century mother’s thoughts on a sixteenth century pastor’s “bold undertaking” (xcix).

    Works Cited

    Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics. Translated by Joe Sachs. Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.

    Mason, Charlotte. Home Education: Training and Educating Children Under Nine. Charlotte Mason Research and Supply, 1989.

    © 2024 Angela Hormberg

  • The Principles Matthew Henry Employs

    In the “Preface” section of his book, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Henry provides a list of the six driving principles he employed while writing his book.

    1. “That religion is the on thing useful; and to know, and love, and fear God our Maker, and in all the instances of both of devout affection, and of good conversation, to keep his commandments is without doubt, the whole of man” (ic)
      • “to preserve honor and order” (ic)
      • “for us to answer ‘the end of our creation” (ic)
      • “obtain God’s favor” (ic)
      • “have peace and comfort” (ic)
      • “be happy” (ic)
    2. “That divine revelation is necessary to true religion, to the being and support of it.” (ic)
    3. “That divine revelation only comes through God’s word, the Bible” (ic)
      • “it is that which is written, that remains”
      • “The scripture indeed is not complied as a methodical system or body of divinity…but several ways of writing (histories, laws, prophecies, songs, epistles and even proverbs)”
      • “a mind rightly disposed by a humble, sincere subjection to his Maker, will easily discover
        • “the image of God’s wisdom in the awful depth of its mysteries”
        • “the image of his sovereignty in the commanding majesty of its style”
        • “the image of his unity in the unspotted purity of its precepts, and”
        • “the image of his goodness in the manifest tendency of the whole to the welfare and happiness of mankind in both worlds”
    4. “That the scriptures of the Old and New Testament were purposely designed for our learning.” (c)
      • “The subject of the holy scriptures is the universal and perpetual , and therefore of common concern. It is intended,
        • 1. To revive the universal and perpetual law of nature, the very remains of which (or ruins rather) of natural conscience, give us hints that we must look somewhere else for a fairer copy.”
        • 2. “To reveal the universal and perpetual law of grace, which God’s common beneficence to the children of men, such as puts them into a better state than that of devils, gives us some ground to expect.”
      • “…the New Testament expounds and completes the old, and thereby makes it more serviceable to us now than it was to the Jewish church, as the Old Testament confirms and illustrates the New, and shows us Jesus Christ the same yesterday that he is to-day and will be forever.”
    5. “That the holy scriptures were not only designed for our learning, but are the settled standing rule of our faith and practice, by which we must be governed now and judged shortly.” (c-ci)
    6. “That therefore it is the duty of all Christians diligently to search the scriptures, and it is the office of ministers to guide and assist them therein.” (ci)

    Works Cited

    Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. “Preface”. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

    © 2024 Angela Hormberg