House of David Season 1 Episode 4: Recap, Review, & Analysis
House of David Season 1 Episode 4 (The Song of Moses) brings to life the biblical story of David soothing Saul’s madness with his music (1 Samuel 16:14-23). It’s a slower episode, especially compared to the action-packed opening batch, but it gives David some much needed character development. Below I will recap what happens in Episode 4 of House of David (*SPOILERS*), review the episode, and analyze some of the key themes. Also be sure to check out my recap, review, and analysis of Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3, as well as my podcast discussion of Episodes 1-3.
What Happened in House of David Season 1 Episode 4 (The Song of Moses)
Episode 4 has two primary storylines – one that revolves around David (Michael Iskander), Eliab (Davood Ghadami), and Mychal (Indy Lewis), and the other revolving around Eshbaal (Sam Otto), Ahinoam (Ayelet Zurer), and Mirab (Yali Topol Margalith). It also includes a smaller storyline that follows the prophet Samuel (Stephen Lang).
David, Eliab, and Mychal in House of David Season 1 Episode 4
David begins Episode 4 in a vision of an Eden-like mountain-garden. We immediately recognize that this is no ordinary garden, as the waters of the stream erupt into fire when they touch David’s hand. After the vision, Samuel explains to David that he must have been transported by the Spirit – just as his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. David struggles to understand what’s happening, but Samuel points out that you don’t need to understand something to fear its power.
Samuel admits that he didn’t want to pick David and even tried to convince God to reconsider his plan to replace Saul. But God doesn’t just see what David is right now, he recognizes what he will become. When Samuel seeks to see what David will become, he sees a vision of Saul’s house on fire and recognizes the great power inside of him – and the great, conflicting passions that will be both a blessing and a curse. Having delivered this wisdom, he insists on leaving, lest Saul find out and kill them all.
Meanwhile, Eliab remains convinced that Samuel has gone mad in his old age. Jesse who has witnessed the ministry of Samuel and his prophetic word, is more open to the possibility that he’s telling the truth. Regardless, Eliab insists that they must neer talk about what happened amongst themselves or with the elders, recognizing that Saul would deem it treason and have them all killed.
David’s Edenic vision resumes and in the stream he sees a mysterious soldier in shining armor – almost certainly the angelic Commander of the Lord’s army who appeared to Joshua before the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 5:13-15). But when David asks who the Angel is or where they are, he is thrust out of the dream and back to reality.
Awakening, he is greeted by Eliab who urges him to keep quiet about what happened and insists that this is not from God. As if to highlight the precarious situation, their cousin, Joab, captain of the King’s guard, arrives with a summons – not for Eliab or Abinadab but for David. Jesse is resistant to the order and even Eliab is hesitant, but Joab is insistent. David, for his part, comes quietly, after an emotional parting with his sister, Avva, and an emotionally-stunted parting with his father, who sends Eliab to watch out for David.
As David is brought to Gibeah, he passes Eshbaal, who is being banished from the city. When he arrives, he is brought before Ahinoam and her witch-advisor, Besai. Ahinoam lies and claims that Saul was bitten by a serpent and is experiencing madness as a result. After Besai received a vision of a lion, which she interpreted as Bastet, Egyptian goddess of music, they have sent for David, hoping that his famed music could help Saul. Although David is a little weirded out by Ahinoam’s appeal to pagan wisdom, he submissively agrees to help and vows to keep Saul’s secret.
While David waits to approach the throne, he begins to have a panic attack, but Mychal comes and encourages him to pretend like he’s just playing for her. With her encouragement, David plays and his music soothes the distressed royal family.
Afterward, David is elated, particularly on account of Mychal’s interest in him. Eliab, on the other hand, is worried and urges David to avoid bringing more attention to himself. But, at this point, no one else in the House of Saul is wary of David – except for Besai, who senses something unique in David’s spirit. Her concern is brushed aside by Ahinoam, who sees him as nothing more than a musician.
That night, David sneaks into the royal Scriptorium – where he is discovered by Mychal. Although she initially warns him that he shouldn’t be there, Mychal is touched by David’s reverence for Scripture — and all the more so when she learns that he was never allowed to be present for Scripture reading in Judah and was never taught to read by his father. She reads to him from the Song of Moses, noting how much she would have loved to hear it sung. Later that night, we see David composing music, which he performs the following day for Saul and Mychal.
Later that night, while Mychal’s servant brings David back to the Scriptorium, Eliab and Joab meet with Abner. Abner reveals that a pretender from the tribe of Judah may be planning to take power from Saul and asks them to help. Afterward, Eliab tells Joab he is hesitant to move against their own people – especially for a threat that may not be real. Joab insists that the threat is real, noting that Samuel was seen in Judah, and questions Eliab’s loyalty. Before their conversation can go further, Jonathan arrives with news of another border town raid. Before they leave, Eliab looks for David but can’t find him. Anxious, he nevertheless joins Joab and Jonathan on their expedition to the Israelite border town.
Meanwhile, David meets Mychal in the Scriptorium and she offers to teach him to read. Mychal confides in David her concern that he family may have been cursed and abandoned by God. David assures her that God has not abandoned them. He recalls how he too was once scared after his mother died but eventually realized that part of knowing God is singing to him in the midst of death and grief. He hopes to continue to comfort her father and adore her – like she deserves.
Eshbaal in House of David Season 1 Episode 4
As Saul sits in silence on his throne, having forbidden all intrusions, Eshbaal appears and offers to listen to his burdens or distract him with a trip to a tavern. But the only thing Saul wants from Eshbaal is for him to stop angering his mother. Undeterred, Eshbaal pitches Saul a vision of remaking Gibeah into a center of the arts and entertainment that will keep the people happy and distracted. Saul sees the value of the idea – but doesn’t believe Eshbaal has the leadership qualities that he needs to execute it. Though Eshbaal blames Saul’s rejection on his birth order, Saul insists there’s something more fundamental about who Eshbaal is.
As Eshbaal starts to leave, Jair, the elder of the tribe of Dan, arrives in the court and accuses Eshbaal of defiling his only daughter. After Saul is seized by a sudden fit of madness, Eshbaal steps forward and begins goading Jair. Before he can cause more trouble, however, Ahinoam arrives to defuse the situation. When Jair insists that, according to the Law of Moses, Eshbaal must either marry his daughter (Exodus 22:16, Deuteronomy 22:28) or be stoned (Deuteronomy 22:23-24?), Ahinoam points out that his daughter would have to be stoned as well. She dismisses him from the court, promising to resolve the issue the next day.
Later that day, Eshbaal plays a board game with Mirab, who is far more worried about the situation than he is. He assumes that Ahinoam will forgive him as always and insists that, in the game and in real life, he doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. Mirab is worried for Dinah, the girl that Eshbaal defiled, recognizing how her father will end up taking this all out on her. Annoyed, Eshbaal storms out, insisting that she has no right to tell him how to behave.
Dinner that night is awkward in the House of Saul. When Eshbaal wryly points out that his error in judgment didn’t result in the death of a slave (like Saul’s), Saul castigates him for being a curse on their house since the day of his birth. Again, Ahinoam steps in to defuse the situation, dismissing the others so she can have a heart to heart with Eshbaal. She recalls how they once pretended to swim through the sky when he was a child – until he fell and cut himself and she was forced to clean the wound. She laments how she will need to “clean another wound.”
The next day, Jair, the elder from Dan, returns to the court. Ahinoam invokes another provision of the Law of Moses, regarding cities of refuge (Numbers 35). Ahinoam banishes Eshbaal to En-Dor, explaining that it will spare blood from both houses. Eshbaal lashes out, insisting that their house has never been anything more than a prison (just as the Philistines intended it to be). After unsuccessfully pleading with her mother, Mirab follows Eshbaal as he is led off and they have an emotional parting.
Loaded into a carriage, Eshbaal is taken away from Gibeah (briefly seeing David on the way out). Before he can reach En-Dor, however, his caravan is ambushed and all the guards are killed. When his carriage catches on fire, Eshbaal is forced to leave the safety of his carriage and meets a mysterious warrior (Achish’s henchman), who invites him to follow him off into the darkness.
Samuel in House of David Season 1 Episode 4
After he finishes anointing David, Samuel goes to meet with his assistant, Silas – but all that he finds is a burned corpse and the word “traitor” written in blood. Terrified that Silas may have betrayed the location of his family home, Samuel hurries off to find his wife, Hilah. Fortunately, when he arrives, he finds Hilah alive and well. After explaining what happened, Samuel says that they must now flee from Saul.
Review of House of David Season 1 Episode 4
Episode 4 isn’t quite as strong as the opening batch of episodes, but it has several elements that I enjoyed:
Ahinoam and Eliab continue to be the most interesting characters in the show. Episode 4 highlights the tensions in both characters: Ahinoam’s motherly affection for Eshbaal is set at odds with her shrewd political pragmatism and dedication to the House of Saul, while Eliab’s understated love for David and for his family is set at odds with his loyalty to the Kingdom and his fear of Saul. It’s also interesting how Eliab insists on discounting Samuel’s words as madness – ironically not realizing that Saul is the one who is actually mad.
Eshbaal continues to be a delightfully despicable character – although the show also offers hints of complexity hidden behind his mask of apathy. We’re left to wonder whether he actually could amount to something more, if his parents had done a better job at both disciplining his indiscretions and entrusting him with meaningful responsibilities. While we never get this level of insight into Eshbaal’s character in the Bible, what the show is doing resonates with a broader theme in the source material. On several occasions throughout the Book of Samuel and Kings, young men end up abusing power and mistreating women because they were not properly disciplined by their parents: Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas (1 Samuel 2-3), Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah (1 Samuel 8), David’s son, Amnon (2 Samuel 13), David’s son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15), and David’s son, Adonijah (1 Kings 1). Absalom is a particularly apt comparison, as he also ends up being banished from his father’s house and becomes resentful as a result.
More Biblical Echoes: Eshbaal isn’t the only character who echoes broader biblical themes. When Eliab talks with David after the anointing, he jokes that they may need to take him to Egypt and sell him. This is an allusion to how Joseph’s brothers – led by Judah – sold him into slavery in Egypt (Genesis 37). Like Joseph, David is the youngest of his siblings, an outcast, and a shepherd – the only difference between the two is that Jesse’s feelings toward David are a little more complicated. David is also elevated, like Joseph, into a royal court, where he is able to bless the king with his special spiritual gifts. Meanwhile, by having Mychal teach David how to read the Song of Moses, the show invites us to connect her with Moses’ sister, Miriam, who famously led the Israelite women in performing it (Exodus 15:20-21). Oh, and the scene between David and the Commander of the Lord’s Army is clearly an echo of Joshua’s story – although I wish the show did a little more with that.
Tension: In the Bible, the story of David’s anointing and the story of David going to the court of Saul to play music are placed alongside one another, with very little narrative harmonization. House of David explores the potential connections between these two events. The summoning of David, which could have felt like a random event, is imbued with a sense of dramatic tension in light of how his family is already worrying that Saul will find out about his anointing.
David finally gets some much-needed space to process through what he’s experienced through his conversations with Samuel, Eliab, and Mychal.
Performances and production value continue to be strong.
Although I found the episode to be fairly enjoyable, there were a few reasons why I didn’t think it was quite as strong as the opening episodes:
Although I like the general concept of Eshbaal’s storyline, the way that it was executed felt a little contrived and remote. We have to be told after the fact about everything related to Eshbaal’s relationship with Dinah – the fact that it happened, his (lack of) feelings toward her, Dinah’s relationship to Mirab, etc. House of David could have actually shown us these things (tastefully, avoiding actual intimacy). Instead of having Eshbaal flirting with a random servant in Episode 1, we could have gotten a scene between him and Dinah, "celebrating" in the aftermath of the battle. This would have helped us connect to Dinah as a real person, not just a concept, and it also would have provided an organic explanation for why all of this is happening now. Mirab could have briefly seen Dinah sneaking out of Eshbaal’s tent and the two could have exchanged a wink, establishing their friendship. That's just one way it could have been executed differently. The point is, this storyline could have felt more dramatic and natural.
Once again, I feel like David accomplishes his goals too easily. Although we get a brief moment of panic when he enters the court of Saul, his struggle is almost immediately assuaged by Mychal and he has no trouble actually achieving his goal. It would have been more interesting if David wasn’t successful right away. Perhaps his first song could have bombed (maybe he tries too hard to do something “proper” or impressive). That way, reading the Song of Moses and talking with Mychal could serve a more dramatic function - it could provide him with the key that he needs in order to successfully soothe Saul. Again, that’s just one idea – but the point is, the show could make David much more interesting if it let him fail more often and actually forced him to learn and grow.
In Episode 3, the show goes out of its way to highlight Silas’ pregnant wife. While I get that Episode 4 was juggling a lot, it felt strange that Samuel didn’t express any concern about Silas’ wife and family. Hopefully we’ll come back to her in Episode 5, otherwise it’ll feel very cold.
I have mixed feelings about the application of the Law of Moses to the Eshbaal/Dinah tryst. The laws that prescribe stoning pertain to adultery between a betrothed virgin and another man, not to premarital fornication between an unbetrothed virgin and a man. Forced marriage would be the Law’s only provision for such a situation. That said, if a man refused to marry the unbetrothed virgin that he had defiled, I could see an Israelite judge drawing on the laws about adultery in order to assign a proper punishment. But I don’t think an unbetrothed virgin would be stoned if she was willing to marry the man but he refused. There’s nothing in the law that suggests that.
In a similar vein, I don’t think a man would be banished to a city of refuge for fornication. Sexual crimes are never associated with cities of refuge. More importantly, cities of refuge aren’t meant to be havens for actual criminals. They’re supposed to be a place where unintentional manslayers can avoid retributive justice long enough to receive a fair trial (Numbers 35:12). Those who fled to a city of refuge could still be punished if their crimes were shown to be intentional (Numbers 35:16-22). The only biblical analogy to the situation we get in Episode 4 is that of Absalom being exiled to Geshur for the intentional murder of Amnon (2 Samuel 13:37-39). In that case, however, Absalom flees (he isn’t banished) and he has to go to a foreign city (not a city of refuge). All of that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ahinoam is either misunderstanding the Law of Moses or manipulatively misrepresenting it. But if that’s what the show intends, it should make that more clear, since most viewers will simply take her interpretation of the Law of Moses for granted.
In spite of these issues, I still enjoyed Episode 4 and left excited to see what's coming in Episode 5.
Key Themes of House of David Season 1 Episode 4
Cleaning the Wound
Ahinoam’s words to Eshbaal are clearly meant to inform how we interpret his story. In the first half of her anecdote, Ahinoams plays along with child Eshbaal’s carefree vision of swimming in the sky and he expresses his love for her. In the second half of the story, when Eshbaal falls and Ahinoam is forced to clean his wound, he expresses his hatred for her. The first half of this story corresponds to Eshbaal’s life in the House of Saul up until this point in the narrative. He lives in a carefree fantasy land, not grounded in the responsibilities of adulthood – and because his mother has indulged his “errors in judgment,” he loves her. The second half of the story corresponds to Ahinoam’s response to the crisis involving Dinah. Eshbaal’s games have caused him to fall into quite a mess. Ahinoam’s decision to banish Eshbaal is actually merciful – it’s preventing him from either forced marriage or death – but he still childishly resents her for it. Although we can sympathize with Eshbaal’s pain, Ahinoam’s discipline is clearly needed – but far too late. This isn’t the first “wound” that Eshbaal has received. Unfortunately, because his past indiscretions have gone uncleaned, it seems like he is already infected with a fatal spiritual illness, which may bring even more pain on the House of Saul.
Knowing God Through Grief and Suffering
David urges Mychal to not despair but instead to trust that she can know God in the midst of her family’s pain and suffering. One way the show reinforces this theme is by inviting us to see a parallel between how God once punished the Israelites with snake bites and then healed them with the bronze serpent (Numbers 21) and how God has punished Saul (who Ahinoam claims has been bitten by a snake) and is now healing him through David’s music. In that analogy, David’s music stands in for the bronze serpent – it is forged through pain and suffering (the death of his mother) but has the power to bring healing to others. The titular Song of Moses functions in a similar way, having been forged through the pain and suffering of the Hebrews only to become a thing of beauty and healing.
Love vs. Loyalty
A lot of the drama in Episode 4 is due to the tension between personal love and loyalty to a greater purpose or institution.
Eliab is torn between his personal care for David and Jesse and his dedication to the Kingdom of Israel.
Jesse seems torn between his personal care for David and his sense that God may indeed be calling David to serve a greater purpose.
David is so eager to serve the House of Saul that he doesn’t really give enough thought to the risks he may bring on his family.
Jair’s care for his daughter is what nearly leads him to renounce his loyalty to the House of Saul.
Ahinoam feels torn between her personal care for Eshbaal and her dedication to the glory of the House of Saul.
Mirab seems to be the only one in the House of Saul who places her love for Eshbaal over her dedication to the family.
Eshbaal tragically seems to lack both love and loyalty. He has very little concern for how his actions may affect those who love him – but he also isn’t given a chance to prove his loyalty by pursuing his plan to bring the arts to Gibeah. I suspect the Philistines will be able to suborn Eshbaal by offering him the sense of purpose that he’s been denied.
Generally, most modern viewers will tend to value personal love over institutional loyalty. In many cases in Episode 4, that intuition proves true. We obviously expect characters like Eliab to prioritize their personal relationships over their loyalty to the corrupt House of Saul. But is Ahinoam wrong for prioritizing the peace of the Kingdom of Israel over her profligate son? Or should David lay low and ignore his calling just because his brother asked to not draw attention to himself? These cases are far less clear. It will be interesting to see how House of David continues to explore some of these tensions.
Hope you enjoyed this deep dive into Episode 4 of House of David. Be sure to check out my recap, review, and analysis for Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3 as well – and keep an eye out for future installments. Also feel free to jump in the comments below to leave your questions and thoughts.
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