Matthew Poole, a renowned theologian and Bible scholar, was born in York, England in 1624. Little is known of his early life until his admittance to Emmanuel College in Cambridge on July 2, 1645. Poole served as minister of St. Michael-le-Querne in London for a time, but later worked almost solely on his Biblical studies. After receiving his MA at Cambridge and Oxford University, Poole wrote the Synopsis Criticorum Biblicum, which condenses the views of 150 biblical critics into five volumes. Another of his works, English Annotations on the Holy Bible, was greatly valued by both Charles Spurgeon and Jonathan Edwards. Spurgeon said of Poole, “He is a very prudent and judicious commentator, less a commentator, and more an expositor.” And in regards to Poole’s synopsis, Spurgeon found it, “a marvelous collection of all the wisdom and folly of the critics.” Poole’s other published works include The Nullity of the Romish Faith, A Blow at the Root, and Dialogues between a Popish Priest and an English Protestant. Before Poole finished his commentary, he died in October of 1679. His friends completed the work and published it in 1685. Today he is still considered one of the eminent Puritans of Great Britain’s Biblical scholarship.^[1]

^[1]  “Matthew Poole.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 June 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Poole.

“Matthew Poole.” SwordSearcher, https://www.swordsearcher.com/christian-authors/matthew-poole.html.