House of David Season 1: When a Shepherd Is Called to Become a King

Since childhood, I have seen series of Bible stories, but watching House of David felt so brand new that it simply took me back to a story I already knew and was so much more familiar with. I become much more interested in the main character, David, because it's my name, and also other characters whose names I hear around. The series is all about David, an overlooked shepherd boy from the house of Jesse who was later anointed by prophet Samuel, while Saul turned against God, and his troubled mind in the form of timely madness made him full of himself, and he started pulling away from God while his kingdom was falling apart. And this series also built toward how Goliath was discovered and used in a battle.

Due to how I wanted to know more, I decided to watch the main character, David, so closely. What I liked was how he was introduced in the show and they didn't make him look like a finished hero. Instead, they showed his early stage of life, how young, unsure, courageous, curious, and still trying to move closer to God amidst everything when he is always alone in the jungle with his herd and fathers' sheep. After he was anointed by Saul, I thought things would go smoothly for him, but that was not the case because his brothers were trying to keep him from the family of Saul so it wouldn't be revealed that he's God's anointed because rumours has spread that Samuel had anointed someone else. David's life became more complicated than I expected, and I felt that so deeply in a way that knowing our purpose does not always tell us what to do next but to be more careful of what is ahead.

Another character that I watched closely after David was Saul, and I won't leave him out because he had a very big problem in this series, which shows that he was always terrified of losing what he had. As I watched, I saw how deeply he became so jealous because of a shepherd boy, and he made a lot of terrible decisions that took him far away from peace of mind, sanity, and God.

And yes, the prophet himself, Samuel, who was feared by everyone, also stood out for me. He always comes to the city when he has an important message from God to be delivered to the house of Saul or anyone. The man who played the role, Stephen Lang did wonderful acting. I must commend him because in all his appearances, his voice was felt. Even though Saul was against David, his son Jonathan did what was right by David by always defending him and asked David to keep his family safe when he becomes the king of Israel. Their family made the palace politics feel personal, especially Saul's wife.

My favorite part that gave me goosebumps was when David was singled out of his brothers and was anointed by Saul, and then shortly after, he went to face Goliath in a battle that all the mighty men of Israel had waited for day after day and were afraid that they would die in. Even though Goliath has made a mouth, this particular scene worked for me because they have spent enough time from the beginning giving a detailed life of David as a shepherd, someone most people don't even look at twice but just to play his harp and watch the sheep, so the victory against Goliath felt like the beginning of something bigger, and Saul praised him a bit for that, which made him more popular. I also like the love scene between Saul's daughter and David. I can't forget that.

But I have some complaints about some other characters that didn't really do much, maybe because the series was centered all around David. But anyway, I still enjoyed it from the beginning till the last episode in season one. It brought back some parts that I have forgotten and gave me a detailed explanation. If you enjoy history drama and biblical drama, then this is something you will enjoy; start with season 1 first. I'll give it a 9/10.

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Rating: 90/100