All that being true I wonder how many times the inspector has proved the commentary to be incorrect? I do think the people who voice their opinion in the NFPA Handbook are very qualified to make the statments they do and the graphics are excellent visuals of the text. As an inspector I would never quote the handbook commentary as substantiation for a violation but I think it helps all of us understand the code better.
The code book is written at a second year college level so we need all the help we can get.