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Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:21
We have here a further instance of God's care concerning our first parents, notwithstanding their sin. Though he corrects his disobedient children, and put them under the marks of his displeasure, yet he does not disinh…
Adam and Eve Expelled from Eden. (b. c. 4004.)
ADAM AND EVE EXPELLED FROM EDEN. (B. C. 4004.) Sentence being passed upon the offenders, we have here execution, in part, done upon them immediately. Observe here, I. How they were justly disgraced and shamed before God…
Cain and Abel. (b. c. 3875.)
CAIN AND ABEL. (B. C. 3875.) Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, Genesis 5:4. But Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Some think they were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the elder hated and the younger…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:3-5
Here we have, I. The devotions of Cain and Abel. In process of time, when they had made some improvement in their respective callings (Heb. At the end of days, either at the end of the year, when they kept their feast o…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:6-7
God is here reasoning with Cain, to convince him of the sin and folly of his anger and discontent, and to bring him into a good temper again, that further mischief might be prevented. It is an instance of God's patience…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:8
We have here the progress of Cain's anger, and the issue of it in Abel's murder, which may be considered two ways:— I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson, sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin against the l…
Cain's Punishment. (b. c. 3875.)
CAIN'S PUNISHMENT. (B. C. 3875.) We have here a full account of the trial and condemnation of the first murderer. Civil courts of judicature not being yet erected for this purpose, as they were afterwards (Genesis 9:6),…
Cain's Complaint. (b. c. 3875.)
CAIN'S COMPLAINT. (B. C. 3875.) We have here a further account of the proceedings against Cain. I. Here is Cain's complaint of the sentence passed upon him, as hard and severe. Some make him to speak the language of des…
The Family of Cain. (b. c. 3875.)
THE FAMILY OF CAIN. (B. C. 3875.) We have here a further account of Cain, and what became of him after he was rejected of God. I. He tamely submitted to that part of his sentence by which he was hidden from God's face;…
The Family of Lamech. (b. c. 3875.)
THE FAMILY OF LAMECH. (B. C. 3875.) We have here some particulars concerning Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. Observe, I. His marrying two wives. It was one of the degenerate race of Cain who first tra…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:23-24
By this speech of Lamech, which is here recorded, and probably was much talked of in those times, he further appears to have been a wicked man, as Cain's accursed race generally were. Observe, 1. How haughtily and imper…
The Birth of Seth. (b. c. 3874.)
THE BIRTH OF SETH. (B. C. 3874.) This is the first mention of Adam in the story of this chapter. No question, the murder of Abel, and the impenitence and apostasy of Cain, were a very great grief to him and Eve, and the…
Genealogies. (b. c. 3852.)
GENEALOGIES. (B. C. 3852.) The first words of the chapter are the title or argument of the whole chapter: it is the book of the generations of Adam; it is the list or catalogue of the posterity of Adam, not of all, but…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 5:6-20
We have here all that the Holy Ghost thought fit to leave upon record concerning five of the patriarchs before the flood, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared. There is nothing observable concerning any of these pa…
Translation of Enoch. (b. c. 3017.)
TRANSLATION OF ENOCH. (B. C. 3017.) The accounts here run on for several generations without any thing remarkable, or any variation but of the names and numbers; but at length there comes in one that must not be passed…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 5:25-27
Concerning Methuselah observe, 1. The signification of his name, which some think was prophetical, his father Enoch being a prophet. Methuselah signifies, he dies, or there is a dart, or, a sending forth, namely, of the…
Account of Noah. (b. c. 2448.)
ACCOUNT OF NOAH. (B. C. 2448.) Here we have the first mention of Noah, of whom we shall read much in the following chapters. Observe, I. His name, with the reason of it: Noah signifies rest; his parents gave him that na…
Depravity of the World. (b. c. 2469.)
DEPRAVITY OF THE WORLD. (B. C. 2469.) For the glory of God's justice, and for warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the old world, we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostasy from God a…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:3
This comes in here as a token of God's displeasure at those who married strange wives; he threatens to withdraw from them his Spirit, whom they had grieved by such marriages, contrary to their convictions: fleshly lusts…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:4-5
We have here a further account of the corruption of the old world. When the sons of God had matched with the daughters of men, though it was very displeasing to God, yet he did not immediately cut them off, but waited t…
Mankind Threatened with Destruction. (b. c. 2469.)
MANKIND THREATENED WITH DESTRUCTION. (B. C. 2469.) Here is, I. God's resentment of man's wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father se…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 6:8-10
We have here Noah distinguished from the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honour put upon him. 1. When God was displeased with the rest of the world, he favoured Noah: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lo…
Depravity of the World. (b. c. 2448.)
DEPRAVITY OF THE WORLD. (B. C. 2448.) The wickedness of that generation is here again spoken of, either as a foil to Noah's piety—he was just and perfect, when all the earth was corrupt; or as a further justification of…
Prediction of the Deluge. (b. c. 2448.)
PREDICTION OF THE DELUGE. (B. C. 2448.) Here it appears indeed that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God's favour to him was plainly intimated in what he said of him, Genesis 6:8-10, where his name is mentioned…