Pastor Jeff Wiesner:

When preparing to study a book of the Bible, I find it most helpful to move from “forest” to “trees” to “leaves.”

Forest: Read the entire book in one sitting, multiple times in multiple sittings, until a “melodic line” begins to emerge—one controlling theme (or related themes) that tie the entire book together.

Trees: Divide the book into textually-warranted sections, keeping the flow of the entire book in mind. Look for clues such as narrative devices (e.g. “these were the generations…” in Genesis), transitions in the setting or characters, changes of theme, etc.

Leaves: Now you’re ready to study verse-by-verse, paragraph-by-paragraph. Always be aware of what immediately precedes or follows your passage. Occasionally revisiting the entire section in which a passage is found, and always keeping one eye on the “melodic line” of the book.

Too many make the mistake of starting with leaves, ignoring trees, and end up missing the forest altogether. This may feel more “productive” at the start because you’re doing serious verse-by-verse Word-work right our of the gate. But this often proves less effective in the end.

Do the hard, patient work of long reading at the beginning and you’ll find your more detailed study to be much more fruitful.