The Bible: Relationship Problems

History's miniseries, "The Bible," continued this week where it left off last time. Joshua and the Israelites waited outside the walls of Jericho, ready to conquer it. The actress who played Rahab, Stephanie Leonidas, was very good and the sequence was a good, exciting start. 


From Joshua, the series jumps straight to Samson. Once again, it is well cast with Nonso Anozie as Samson and Kireston Wearing as Delilah. From Samson, the prophet Samuel (Paul Freeman) anoints Saul (Francis Magee) as the first king of Israel. He loses God's favor and so Samuel anoints young David (Jassa Ahluwalia), who slays the great warrior Goliath. David grows up alongside Saul's son Jonathan but Saul notices the people grow fond of the former shepherd (now played by Langley Kirkwood). He becomes paranoid, believing David will steal his crown. In the end, David does become king and falls for the wife of his most trusted general, Uriah (Dhaffer L'Abidine). When she becomes pregnant, David covers up his sin by having Uriah killed in battle and marrying Bathsheba (Melia Kreiling). The prophet Nathan (Clive Wood) goes to the king to tell him God is displeased and David is punished. It ends with young Solomon bonding with his father. 

This episode plays the Bible stories straight and is great, just like I said last time. My only problem this time is that they did try to force drama one more time, on David's side. When Nathan tells David God is displeased with what he has done regarding Bathsheba and Uriah, in the Bible, David repents. Though God still kills his child, David doesn't rail against Him. Instead, he accepts the punishment and moves on. Yes, having David argue with Nathan is a bit more dramatic. But it misses the point. This makes David sound like Saul when in the Bible it illustrates how David was different from Saul. In this case, he sounded just like his predecessor. And it creates this question: Why would Saul lose his crown but not David? 

Well, we'll see what next week brings.