Life in Canaan: The Early Years

A comprehensive exploration of the historical and theological themes of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and the two books of Samuel, the five books of the Hebrew Bible that narrate the emergence of Israel as a nation.



 Class Introduction

(Click to Expand)

Click on any week number to reveal the resources for that week's lesson.

The Life in Canaan will be studied in twelve weekly lessons. Click here for a viewable, printable, and downloadable class schedule.


The reference material for each weekly lesson are listed below. By clicking on a "Week Number" below, the links for the various resources will be revealed.


Besides the Scripture text itself, the primary study tools is the scripture Summary written by Rev. Spence.


Click the title below to view/download the 'PDF' file of Rev. Spence's Summary:

Life in Canaan: The Early Years

(Once opened, the 'portable document' [pdf file] is presented for viewing, printing, or downloading.)


The maps used in Rev. Spence's Summary documents, lectures, and video presentations use, with permission, maps created by Stephen M. Miller. Mr. Miller is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. Click here to view more information on Mr. Miller's publications including maps that cover all the major cities, stories, and books in the Bible.

There are many versions or translations of the Bible. Students are encouraged to read and refer to their preferred translation. Each weekly lesson will cover selected chapters of the Bible. The online Scripture references use the services of BibleGateway. BibleGateway is an extremely useful online Bible with many versions and translations. BibleGateway also provides a parallel or side-by-side view of selected translations. Students are invited to explore the various translations. 

For this study, Rev. Spence has selected the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE) as the default translation referenced on BibleGateway. Click here for information about the  New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition translation.

An optional, but useful resource, are short videos that provide an overview of the books of the Bible from BibleProjectBibleProject is a nonprofit, crowdfunded organization that produces 100% free Bible videos, podcasts, blogs, classes, and educational Bible resources to help make the biblical story accessible to everyone everywhere. 


For each week of the in-person class session, Rev. Spence has recorded a video lecture presenting the information covered for that week. The links to view or download each video lecture are found by clicking on the desired week below.

If you have questions or problems accessing any resource on this site, click here to submit a support request.


Week 2

September 10/11

Covenant Renewal / Cities Conquered

Week 3

September 17/18

Tribal Land / Levite Cities / Joshua Dies

Week 11

November 12/13

David & Bathsheba / Absalolm's Coup

Week 12

November 19/20

Absalom's Death / King David's Reign