House of David

House of David is an 8-episode series that retells the biblical story of King David's rise from youngest son (stuck tending the sheep) to King of Israel. Its first three episodes premiered on February 27, and season finale will be on April 3. Already in its first week, this series reached second place on Prime's most watched list.

Any retelling of the biblical story of David could easily be done in a few episodes, certainly in a single season at most. So, as with all such attempts (e.g., The Chosen) dramatization demands fictionalization, filling in the gaps in the story with imagined additional developments in the lives of the characters - and indeed with imagined additional characters. Season one starts with Saul's disobedience of Samuel after his victory over the Amalekites and will end (so it appears) with David's defeat of Goliath. That is all of just three chapters in the first book of Samuel. So, obviously, narrative engagement requires considerable additional amplification of the biblical account. In itself, this is perfectly legitimate. In theory, this allows more in-depth character development, helping the once universally familiar biblical story become more fully accessible to contemporary audiences.

On the other hand, the series, while well produced and visually appealing, may (in my opinion) perhaps go too far in amplifying the biblical account, adding questionable elements not only without any obvious basis in the story (e.g., David's illegitimacy) but also explicitly contradicting the biblical story (e.g., the death of David's mother when he was a child, which explicitly contradicts 1 Samuel 22:3-4). How dramatically helpful such dubious additional aspects are may be debated, but I think it may be a mistake when the biblical account is explicitly contradicted or obviously distorted.

Again, while the series is generally well done dramatically, it may test the patience of anyone who knows the actual account and wonders when it will finally get around to those exciting events themselves. In the four episodes aired so far, we have seen Samuel's rejection of Saul and alternative anointing of David in secret, followed (as in the actual account) by Saul's being tormented by an evil spirit and the summons to David to attend Saul and play the harp for him. Everything else in the series so far is made up - including the fact that Saul's daughter is presented as instrumental in bringing David to the king's court. The series seems to want to make more than may be warranted out of the romance between David and Saul's daughter Michal - including (contrary to the biblical account) anticipating the romance by initiating Michal's attraction to David well before David's defeat of Goliath. Given that David's first marriage will in fact be neither happy nor dynastically significant, this seems a somewhat strange choice, unless, of course, it was simply deemed dramatically required to highlight a romance as a necessary condition for accessibility to a contemporary audience. The hero has to fall in love and be seen at least in part as motivated by such!

Be all that as it may, the numerous fictional sub-plots (including a story about Saul's unsatisfactory second son Ishbaal) makes me at least a little impatient for the series to get on to the (what I would consider) much more compelling drama of the actual characters from the actual biblical account. If the series ultimately falls short in my estimation, it may well be because it goes so far in focusing on minor characters and their fictional sub-plots rather than emphasizing the very real drama inherent in the primary figures in the story.

Still, the series is well worth watching. It manages to depict, in an apparently convincing way, what life at that place and time (c. 1000 BC), in such a society so different from ours, may have been like. Moreover, in its own roundabout way, it does seem to highlight the biblical account's fundamental theme of God's election of David and providential purpose for him in Israel's history (and, hence, in salvation history).