The Prime Video Biblical history drama series House of David brings us another intense episode this week, as part of its ongoing season 2, with David being targeted even more personally by his king. Driven by the realization that she is quickly losing control and influence in the royal court, Queen Ahinoam comes up with a plan to establish her husband, King Saul’s dominance over David once and for all, but it ultimately ends up backfiring. Meanwhile, the royal palace hosts a happy wedding feast, but Mirab just cannot accept the loneliness that she is constantly subjected to.
Spoiler Alert
What is Ahinoam’s plan for David?
At the very beginning of House of David season 2 episode 6, Ahinoam happens to walk to the other side of the palace one night, seemingly to have a word with her husband and possibly to try and mend their relationship, but she stumbles upon an unexpected scene. Ahinoam sees King Saul lying with his new favorite concubine, Kezia, whom she had already suspected to have been poisoning her husband’s mind. Instead of reacting immediately, Ahinoam chooses to take an indirect approach to the matter by trying to get back on her husband’s favorable side. She believes that the easiest way to do so would be to trigger Saul’s ego, and taking advantage of David’s growing popularity in the kingdom is definitely her first choice. Thus, she approaches Saul and Abner at court the very next morning, with a specific plan in mind.
Ahinoam reminds Saul how David has not only been getting more popular by the day among the subjects of the kingdom but also how he has been growing more defiant and rebellious against the king’s commands. The young man’s brave approach at the very end of the previous episode, when he directly told Saul that he would not marry Mirab at any cost, has evidently not been taken well by the king. He too has been sensing David’s disobedience for quite some time now and has clearly started to fear that his popularity might someday cause trouble for the royal family. Thus, Saul agrees to Ahinoam’s plan—to send David on one last mission, on which he would surely die. This would not only remove a thorn from his side, but the nature of David’s death will mean that nobody would suspect any foul play, and he will still be considered a hero who had sacrificed his own life for the sake of his kingdom.
Soon, King Saul calls for David at the royal court and tells him that he is ready to respect his brave and unending love for Mychal and his decision to not marry anyone except for her. But, Saul states, David will have to prove his worth one last time by carrying out an important mission for the kingdom that will surely prove his allegiance to Israel. David agrees to go on any mission without even listening to the details, for he openly states that he is ready to even die for his love. As Mychal tells her father later in the episode, David also has tremendous love and respect for King Saul, which also plays a role in him accepting the new mission so readily. Saul now explains that David is to travel to the iron forge at Beit Haesh, at the Philistine city of Gath, where their army has been making the new stronger swords, and destroy it. He is to then kill a hundred Philistine soldiers and bring their foreskins as proof of his heroic act.
David does not take even a moment to agree to these terms, even when he is told about how the attack on the forge needs to be strategically planned, since the fortified position meant that the Philistines would easily spot any marching troop. He has to command a very small unit of soldiers and himself play a very crucial role in the whole operation. Importantly, Jonathan is not going to be by David’s side this time, since he has still not returned to Gibeah by this time, and David does not include his eldest brother, Eliab, who is also one of the most skilled warriors, in the unit. Perhaps David knows the high risks of this mission and does not want to endanger Eliab, or maybe he senses how the Witch of Endor’s words in the previous episode have still been haunting Eliab greatly.
Either way, David and his small unit of about twenty warriors set out towards Beit Haesh, without any idea that King Saul actually has a very different plan in mind. Soon afterwards, Saul visits the shack of Doeg and takes advantage of the latter’s connections with the Philistines. He orders Doeg to send a letter to King Achish of Gath, informing him of the attack that is about to take place at the mine and, more importantly, about how David is going to lead this operation. The Philistines, and especially Achish, wanted to avenge the death of Goliath, and so this is a great chance to do so, as Saul himself suggests, through Doeg.
Do Jonathan and Sara get married?
At the end of the previous episode, Jonathan had parted ways with the unit while returning from Endor and had traveled straight to the village of his beloved Sara in order to profess his love for her. The Witch of Endor’s words to David, about not letting a lie shape his life, had inspired Jonathan to propose to Sara as well, despite her initial rejection. Now, Jonathan admits to Sara that he understands how he had indirectly caused her brother’s death and apologizes for not being able to do anything to save the young man too, but also admits that he genuinely loves her and wants to marry her. Sara makes it clear that although she is somewhat ready to forget about her brother’s death, a marriage between the two of them is still not possible because of their expectations in life.
Sara is not very willing to take on the roles and responsibilities of a queen, as she knows that Jonathan will be the next King of Israel, and if she marries him, then she will definitely have to go through the same royal practices that she is not fond of. However, Jonathan quickly makes it evident that he is so in love with Sara that he does not care about revealing a crucial and significant secret to her, only to convince her to marry him. Thus, he tells her about Samuel having anointed David the new King of Israel, which would mean that he would never become the king in reality. Along with this revelation, Jonathan also makes a genuine admission to Sara about how he actually feels relieved that he will not have to be king and can instead be a warrior and a good human being for the rest of his life, all of which impresses her.
When Jonathan proposes to Sara once again at the end of this lengthy discussion, she is swooned by his honesty and grounded nature, and she finally accepts his approach. He does not even want to wait to get back to Gibeah for the marriage to take place, as it would also mean that his royal family and traditions would have their say. Thus, Jonathan and Sara get married right then, at her village, with the blessings of her grandfather, the master healer. It is only after a day or two of the marriage that the prince and his newlywed wife travel to Gibeah and inform Jonathan’s family about their union.
What happens at the royal wedding feast?
As Jonathan returns to the palace at Gibeah with his new bride, Ahinoam and Mirab are very evidently not happy with their new union, but Saul accepts his eldest son’s decision and calls for a royal wedding feast to be held. Multiple developments pan out during this feast, the first being Mirab’s visible frustration at the fact that everyone around her, especially all her siblings, is suddenly finding love in their respective lives, while she remains single and unwanted. One of the key elements of Mirab’s personality is her belief that she is neglected by everyone, in love and in life, because of which she had always been jealous of Mychal’s charming personality and David’s love for her. During the feast, she makes it clear that she has been growing jealous of Eshbaal as well, because of his growing romance with his new wife, Dinah, who had not even wanted to marry him in the first place.
With two of her siblings very much in love, Mirab had been holding on to her eldest brother, Jonathan, for a sort of support in singlehood, and so his sudden step to have married Sara breaks her heart and also frustrates her tremendously. The wedding confronts Mirab with her loneliness more glaringly, and the timing of it is also significant, as she has only recently learned that David has refused to marry her. In fact, Mirab had a confrontation with David earlier in the episode, when she expressed her disappointment regarding being rejected by him even after she had recently opened up to him about how she only wanted to feel desired. Now, during the feast, she confronts Mychal as well, although in a very passive-aggressive manner, before walking away from the scene and even considering taking her own life. It is only when Dinah calms her down through supportive words that Mirab stops herself, indicating that a close friendship between the two young women is possible.
The other major development at the feast is much more apparent to all the guests gathered at the place, confirming their king’s shift in romantic alliance. Only some time earlier, Kezia had asked King Saul to let her attend David and Mychal’s wedding as an honored guest, and not as a servant. Although Saul knew it would be a difficult thing to do, as it would obviously lead to scandal, he had promised to somehow arrange for such a situation. Now that Jonathan’s wedding suddenly brings up the opportunity for a public feast and ceremony, Kezia wastes no time and walks into the party dressed not as a servant but as a guest, even wearing Ahinoam’s necklace, which she had taken earlier. The queen is shocked and immediately asks her husband to force Kezia out of the party, but Saul does quite the opposite. He introduces Kezia to the guests as the important individual who had made Jonathan and Sara’s relationship possible, since she was the one who had sent Jonathan to Sara’s grandfather, the healer. Saul then thanks Kezia and asks her to join him at the royal table as a distinguished guest, which is a clear and public snub to Ahinoam.
How do David’s friends learn about the peril he’s in?
Right when David and his small unit were leaving Gibeah, some time before Jonathan’s arrival, Joab had noticed Doeg suspiciously releasing a pigeon, and had realized that the Edomite chief was sending a message to someone. This, and the fact that David was suddenly setting out on a dangerous mission, that too with such a small troop, had made Joab suspect something was up, and now, after the wedding feast, he tells Mychal the same, assuring her that he will look into it. He soon visits Doeg’s shack and confronts him, even using brute force against the man. Although Doeg tries to take advantage of Joab’s romantic interest in Mychal and tells him that he will soon be thankful for David being removed from the picture, Joab decides to stand up for what’s right, and he immediately informs Jonathan about the grand betrayal that is being executed. Within just a few minutes, Jonathan leads an army towards the iron forge at Gath in order to save David and their other friends from certain death.
Can David make a triumphant return to Gibeah?
Meanwhile, at the fortified iron forge of Beith Haesh, David and his troops launch an attack, only to realize that the enemies were already prepared for what was supposed to be a surprise raid. King Achish and King Daganor also appear at the place and lock David and the Israelites inside the burning forge, but the latter manage to escape only because of David’s intelligent plan to gather all the explosives near the gates and blow it up. As David attempts to escape the place, he is surrounded by a large Philistine army, making it very evident that the enemies had indeed been waiting for him and his troops. A fierce fight takes place between David and King Daganor, with the protagonist killing the Philistine king as well, before Achish reveals to him that his own king had betrayed him.
While David had already guessed that something very suspicious had gone down behind his back, Achish’s revelation confirms his hunch, but he does not switch sides. As Jonathan and the others march onto the scene, they and David bring down all the Philistine soldiers, although their leaders, Achish and Azor, escape. Ultimately, David is indeed able to make a triumphant return to Gibeah and face his king with extreme pride and also anger in his eyes. He bravely states that he has killed way more Philistine soldiers than Saul had asked him to and has even brought back a bagful of proof. Making a stern and brief demand to now be married to Mychal, as he had fulfilled all of Saul’s demands, David leaves the court to visit his beloved and propose to her. Even after having narrowly escaped a sabotage planned by his own king, David still remains gentle enough to ensure that Mychal still wants to marry him, and she obviously agrees.
What happens to Ahinoam in the end?
The triumphant return of David also means absolute disaster for Ahinoam, since she loses her last chance to get back on favorable terms with her husband, as her plan of sacrificing the giant-slayer completely backfires. The situation only grows worse for Saul, and in turn, for Ahinoam, since people not only love and admire David all the more for his heroic victory over the Philistines, but there are also whispers of the king himself having set up a sabotage mission for his warriors. Saul is absolutely livid at this turn of fortune, and he blames the queen completely for the situation. Out of extreme anger and his already waning love and respect for her, Saul even tries to physically assault her before dragging Ahinoam out of the palace gates and banishing her from the family and from the kingdom as well.
Although two of their children, Eshbaal and Mirab, are there to witness this cruel and demeaning act, only one of them seems to be affected by it. Eshbaal walks up to his mother, as if to comfort her, but vengefully whispers in her ears, reminding her that he too had been once banished by her, his own mother, whom he had expected to have been loving and supportive. Eshbaal clearly takes pleasure in the fact that the same person responsible for his banishment is now herself turned away from the kingdom, and he then simply returns to the palace as if nothing too shocking has happened. Mirab, on the other hand, stands shaken and aggrieved, staring at her mother from inside the courtyard, and in her last gesture towards Mirab, Ahinoam asks her daughter to stay strong and hold her head high at all times, making for an emotional farewell.
