Henry H. Halley (1874–1965)

A quite useable introduction to the Bible, for those who would like a brief introduction for each book, as well as other thoughts, from someone with a lifetime of Bible study and knowledge. This is not a pretentious book. Halley treats his audience with respect and warmth, offering different interpretations fairly, and including evidence for his positions. It is remarkably dense with information, making it worthwhile for anyone to open alongside of the Bible, and well worth the space on a show more bookshelf. show less

I read the Bible with this commentary and one from atheist Isaac Asimov at the same time. They countered each other's weak points well. Because Halley takes a literal approach to the Bible, he is better at finding evidence for Biblical events that Asimov overlooks.

A classic reference, though a bit dated on archaeological matters. All my Baptist relatives had a copy, and so did my church and local library. Everyone should have it, as it is a classic of the genre. It was my youthful introduction to whole swathes of Scripture and interpretation.

Henry Hampton Halley (1874-1965) was born in Kentucky, graduated from Transylvania College and the College of the Bible in 1895, and became a minister associated with Christian Churches in 1898. When he presented his well known “Bible Recitals” in which he quoted lengthy portions of Scripture and explained them, he would first reveal the historical background and contextual information of each passage. People began asking him for some of this information, so he decided to write his own show more introductory material and make it available. In 1924 he produced a sixteen page booklet of introductory information and began giving it out to people who wanted it. In time the booklet grew into a small volume, and he began calling it Halley's Pocket Bible Handbook, but before long “Pocket” was dropped from the name as the volume was too large for a shirt pocket.
After an introduction, the handbook gives a survey of each book in the Old Testament, a short explanation of the time “Between the Testaments,” a survey of each book in the New Testament, and finally an overview of “How We Got the Bible” and “Church History” since the first century. What I especially like about it is all the archaeological notes which accompany the discussion of the Bible history, along with the copious maps and photographs. A copy of this book, commonly known as “Halley’s Bible Handbook,” was in our home from my early days. I took it to college with me and have used it ever since. When each of our boys was in either seventh or eighth grade, I had them read a portion of the book each day all the way through as their Bible curriculum for that year. It has been said that “Halley's Bible Handbook contains more biblical information than any other book of its size.”
One may not necessarily agree with every statement that Halley makes, such as his allowance that the days of creation might have been long geological eras, his implication that Noah’s flood may have been a merely local deluge, or his suggestion that the ark rested on Mt. Ararat though the latter is a traditional view. However, in general he takes a basically conservative, creationist approach to the Scriptures. Of course, those who come from a liberal, modernist, and/or ecumenical standpoint will not like the book because of its “unquestioning literalist view of the entire Bible” or its “fundamentalist position” as well as its “anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim” language. Also, some have objected to Halley as a “white Christian supremacist” but I believe that this objection is the result of misunderstanding some things that he said. However, for those who accept the Bible as the divinely inspired, infallible, and authoritative revelation of God, the book is a useful resource for Biblical background information. show less