Amazon Prime’s House of David is a masterpiece

“Can one stone change the course of history?” the softly spoken narrator asks as the first episode opens with David picking a stone from the river. The scene quickly moves to Goliath emerging on one side, David on the other. David puts the rock in the sling and begins running towards him… only to be skewered to the ground by one of the giant’s spears. We then flashback to one year earlier. The show is teasing us with a glimpse of his most famous battle, before slowly and deliberately laying the groundwork for it.

Although the standard has risen over the years, audiences might still be hesitant when it comes to another biblical epic. Which is why it’s such a relief to say that House of David is a masterpiece. The script, score, cinematography and performances all combine to make for absolutely wonderful story-telling. It’s hard to think of another series like this that had such a strong opening, but the producers for this show seem eager to get that Amazon studios money up on the screen.

Caution is advised when it comes to younger viewers. The House of David deftly portrays the brutalities of the ancient world, and while it doesn’t necessarily revel in the violence, it doesn’t work hard to shy away from it either. Writer and executive producer Jon Erwin has created a show that is stylised without being kitsch, and considering that The Chosen has become the benchmark by which all faith-based TV shows are now measured, it’s reassuring to see Dallas Jenkins credited as a special advisor to the show’s production company, Wonder Project.

Stellar performances all-round 

The cast is light on famous faces, which makes it much easier to be enveloped by the story-telling. Michael Iskander who plays David does an amazing job of getting the balance between strength and humility just right. The early scenes where we see the young shepherd leaving his flock to rescue one sheep might make us think we will get hit over the head with biblical foreshadowing, but the way he lovingly cradles the sheep quickly wins us back over. It also succinctly explains why he was a master musician and an expert with a slingshot; when tending his flock, he simply had nothing else to do.

The House of David is better than it has any right to be. A sincere, heartfelt biblical epic with the budget to match

In this interpretation, King Saul and his Queen Ahinoam seem to owe as much to Shakespeare as they do to the Old Testament. A mad king and a scheming queen seem more like the Macbeths as they desperately try to cling to power. Stephen Lang is unrecognisable as the prophet Samuel. The moment when he cups Saul’s face in his hands, tearfully telling him, “I loved you” just as he withdraws God’s anointing, will stay with you.

Each episode opens with a brief disclaimer: ‘Some of the events depicted in this series may not accurately represent all historical and biblical facts or figures’. It’s true to say they’ve taken some bold swings with the creative choices, but all of them seem to serve the wider story well so far.  There may be historical inaccuracies, but it would be tiresome to point them out. What it does do is spark curiosity. By the end of the first episode, you might find yourself googling whether David was illegitimate, and finding the line in Psalm 51:5 “in sin my mother conceived me” which may have been the writer’s spring-board to some fascinating speculation.  

Innocent shepherd boy or corrupt king? 

Some viewers may be hesitant to watch a series devoted to a man who grew to be a highly problematic king to say the least. Some Christians give David something of a free pass when they appraise him, being a little too quick to gloss over his actions with Bathsheba which, by virtue of the power disparity between them, would not reach our modern standards for consent. But it wouldn’t be fair to judge the boy for the man’s actions, so for now at least, we can sit back and enjoy the ride. “All men change,” King Saul says, a line seemingly aimed as much at the audience as his son, Jonathan.

We are only three episodes into an eight-episode season, so there’s still plenty of time for the wheels to come off. But still, The House of David is better than it has any right to be. It is knowing without being smug. A sincere, heartfelt biblical epic with the budget to match the ambition is the stuff that dreams are made of. The end of the first episode will leave you with goosebumps and the start of the second will have you welling up. This show does an excellent job of showing that God will not be mocked, but he does have a funny sense of humour.  

House of David is available to watch now on Prime Video