House of David
Rated M (violence)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
It’s no surprise that streaming services have begun greenlighting a range of TV shows based on parts of Scripture, thanks to the ongoing success of The Chosen.
The series about the life of Jesus is about to launch its fifth season to an ever-increasing fan base – a good proportion of whom aren’t Christian – so investors are now willing to stump up the cash to develop more stories from the Bible, and House of David is the latest result.
Created in tandem with the Wonder Project, House of David focuses on the story of the humble boy from Bethlehem, whose extraordinarily complex and dramatic life could give daytime soap opera a run for its money.
Just consider what the Old Testament tells us: the youngest son, a shepherd of no consequence who God chooses as king, who sings and plays the lyre but also kills his enemy’s champion with just one stone from his sling. Who wins many battles in God’s name but is also marked for death and hounded by the existing king, Saul. Who sins mightily but repents, and who wrote half of the book of Psalms.
There’s plenty of story to tell! And given the slow-ish pace of Season 1’s eight episodes, we should expect it to take some time. The first episode gives us a teasing glimpse of David and Goliath, but the story then takes us back 12 months, with the rest of the season building up to the famous battle with the Philistines in the Valley of Elah.
I mention The Chosen because its style of combining biblical accounts with created character backstories (along with subplots that, yes, do annoy some Christian viewers) is similar to the route taken by Jon Erwin, the creator of House of David. Erwin has made it clear in interviews that believers have complete creative control of the series, so those concerned that it may not be biblical enough will simply have to watch it and decide for themselves.
To be fair, the content of the story is not taken solely from the Bible, but from Jewish rabbinical tradition and texts. This latter source is the origin of a plot point in which David’s mother is not of Israel and is Jesse’s concubine rather than his wife. This puts the family, and particularly David, on the fringes of society.
He is sent out to care for the sheep (so no one has to look upon him), while his eldest brother Eliab fights with the armies of Saul – who, after defeating the Amalekites, does not destroy all their possessions, or kill their king as God commanded. He then cheerfully sets up a monument to himself, to the alarm of his godly son Jonathan.
Anyone who knows their Old Testament will be aware of what happens next. The Lord rejects Saul as king, and a grieving Samuel (wonderfully portrayed by Stephen Lang) comes to relay God’s judgement that Saul chose to honour himself rather than the Lord. For, as Samuel notes later in the series when anointing David, God looks at the heart rather than the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7).
Michael Iskander as David takes a while to warm up into his role, which is reasonable given that, initially, he’s mostly left to sing (brilliantly, I might add) in the fields – or expected to apologise for his existence. Hopefully he will continue to grow as the series unfolds, but his singing voice alone is a highlight. Ali Suliman’s performance as King Saul is also genuinely frightening once his character loses grip on reality.
You may not agree with the artistic choices made by Erwin and the other makers of House of David around the portrayal of this Bible story. You may also find, as I did, that the script can be somewhat patchy in places.
Having said that, the majority of the ensemble cast is strong, and it’s excellent to see another series that’s focused on the Bible with such high production values – and on a major streaming service. May this series bring God glory in the same way as David, the man after God’s own heart.
There will be a new episode of House of David each week until April 3.
