Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for House of David.

There is no doubt that Prime Video’s House of David aims to set up a violent rivalry between the young shepherd David (Michael Iskander), who has been anointed as the next King of Israel, and King Saul (Ali Suliman), who remains unaware of who will challenge his throne. In the fourth episode, “The Song of Moses,” David enters the king’s palace in Gibeah, and we inch another step closer to the conflict that will eventually burn between them. However, this episode sets up one other rivalry that casual viewers may not expect. As David arrives at the palace, Saul’s son Eshbaal (Sam Otto) is banished to Endor, and the two meet briefly on the road, foreshadowing the war that will brew between them. Saul and David may be what we’re all excited to see unfold, but it’s David and Eshbaal who will one day fight over the kingdom.

Eshbaal May Be Banished, but He Will Undoubtedly Return

At the beginning of “The Song of Moses,” Eshbaal’s actions during the Battle of the Amalekites, where his father and brother, Jonathan (Ethan Kai), fought valiantly, are finally exposed. Having “defiled” the daughter of a man named Yahir (Justin Avoth), Eshbaal is soon banished by his mother, Queen Ahinoam (Ayelet Zurer), as punishment, as Eshbaal refuses to marry the girl and neither the queen nor Yahir want to see their children stoned. It’s a surprising turn of events, one that none of the House of Saul saw coming. For as long as they could remember, Eshbaal had been the family’s “black sheep,” but he had never truly been removed from their ranks. This drives Mirab (Yali Topol Margalith) to follow her brother outside the walls of Gibeah, and he tells her that he hopes she finds happiness in her life.

On some level, it makes sense for House of David to write Eshbaal out of the main plot. After all, the character (who is called Ish-bosheth, meaning “man of shame,” in the Bible) isn’t even mentioned in 1 Samuel, the book in which most of the events of Season 1 take place. Indeed, it isn’t until 2 Samuel that Eshbaal is inserted into the story, after the death of his father and brother. Because of this, we can see that House of David is setting Eshbaal up to take their place following their eventual destruction, though it may be a while before we get there. Because this season is set to end with a two-part “David and Goliath” story (as teased in the series premiere, “A Shepherd and a King”), this means that House of David Season 1 will likely only cover through 1 Samuel Chapter 17. If this is the case, then there are still over ten chapters left in 1 Samuel to cover throughout Season 2 before Eshbaal returns to his family’s house — that is, unless the Prime Video series takes the story in a different direction.

David and Eshbaal Become Rivals for the Kingdom of Israel

However, if the show intends to stick to the biblical narrative (and we have no reason to believe it won’t, since it has remained largely faithful thus far), then it will follow the early chapters of 2 Samuel. After Saul is eventually killed in battle (spoiler alert), David is crowned king of Judah, which has largely split from the rest of the Kingdom of Israel. Because of this, Abner (Oded Fehr) locates Ish-bosheth/Eshbaal and crowns him as king in his father’s stead over the rest of Israel. We can see the dramatic irony here on House of David as Saul continually belittles Eshbaal’s contributions, having decided that Jonathan will be king due to his rights as the firstborn and his leadership abilities. Because both Ish-bosheth and David are kings, there is a civil war that brews among the people of Israel. Judah remains loyal to David during this time, while the rest of the tribes stick with the House of Saul, despite Saul and Jonathan being dead.

Sometime before Saul’s death, he had taken David’s wife, Michal/Mychal (Indy Lewis), and married her off to another. When David becomes King of Judah, he demands that Ish-bosheth return his wife to him, and despite their differences, he complies. Eventually, Abner switches sides and defects to David’s camp, and soon the end comes for Ish-bosheth as well. Eventually, two men of Israel, named Rechab and Baanah, became disillusioned with their king and set out to kill Ish-bosheth. After doing so, they took the king’s head to David, assuming the King of Judah would give them their due reward. However, David’s great respect for the House of Saul — for the Lord’s anointed, for his friend Jonathan, and for his own wife — prevails. Instead of rewarding these men, David has them killed, their hands and feet removed as their bodies hung in Hebron. Of course, Ish-bosheth’s death worked in David’s favor, as the rest of the tribes of Israel would soon anoint him as king over the unified Kingdom of Israel. Still, for a few years there, David and Ish-bosheth/Eshbaal were at war, and the two were bitter rivals.

‘House of David’ Is Setting Up Years of Stories

Though such a small moment, the scene in “The Song of Moses” where David and Eshbaal pass one another on the road, with David heading to the palace and Eshbaal away from it, signifies that the writers behind House of David are setting up this biblical tale. Though they do not yet know each other, nor have they even spoken a word to the other, Eshbaal’s raising of a cup to the next anointed King of Israel is deliberate foreshadowing. Of course, this isn’t the only story that the series is setting up as early as the first season. With Saul being tormented by the evil spirit, he sees a vision of his and Jonathan’s deaths in battle. More than that, the appearance of Goliath’s (Martyn Ford) other brothers signifies that House of David will likely pay off some of David’s other campaigns against the Philistines in future seasons.

Following the success of a show like The Chosen, which has given a new name to long-form Bible adaptations, House of David has enhanced the size and scale of the biblical story of David. Developing these characters across entire seasons immerses the viewer in the world in a way that can sometimes be hard to do on the page. While the show doesn’t always stick strictly to the biblical script (everything involving David’s upbringing is a bit questionable), the show manages to hit all the right plot points while maintaining the themes woven throughout the Old Testament text. However House of David plays this rivalry between David and Eshbaal out, we’re sure it’s going to be exciting.

New episodes of House of David stream every Thursday on Prime Video.

House of David

Release Date

February 27, 2025

Network

Prime Video

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