Doing a bible search for instructions to study the bible this was found.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 English Standard Version

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It does not surprise me that what preceded the commandment to study His Word is the commandment to love God. We can search out a dozen different reasons to study the bible but  the beginning of instructions was a sign of love for God.

In verse 7 our children are to be indoctrinated in the Word. Teaching is doctrine. We shall talk to them, commune with them, relationship, coming to a proper understanding by sharing. Then it goes beyond that as we see the Word posted on the entrances to our homes for visitors and strangers to see what we believe and what we stand for.

At the root of all bible study is love for God. That should take first place.

At the time of Joshua entering into the Promised Land all they had was the writings of Moses, the first five books of the bible. Now we have sixty-six books. Life has evolved and the bible is loaded with successes and failures concerning man’s ability to show he loves God. The Samaritans only had those first five and were considered unworthy because they did not have all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament.

Christianity has added twenty-seven more. Does that mean we love God more because we have more to study and learn from? I would hope we do not think that way.

We do not have a stranglehold on faith. We should remember that when we struggle to understand Deuteronomy 31:10-13 where all Israel was compelled to gather just once every seven years to have the Law read to them aloud.

I know I need my memory refreshed more often than once every seven years.