As we get closer to the end of the 2nd season of Prime Video’s biblical history drama series House of David, the situation grows much more intense, albeit only after a grand celebration. After months of deliberation and then delay, David and Mychal’s passionate romance is finally acknowledged officially, as they get married in the penultimate episode of season 2, streaming this week. But the celebrations and the joyous moment are marred by more serious and dangerous matters, as Adriel continues to try and gain favors for himself, while Eshbaal finally shows his true colors.
Spoiler Alert
Do David and Mychal finally get married?
The main highlight of House of David season 2 episode 7, or what it should be, is the happy matrimony of David and Mychal, as the two lovers are finally wedded in this episode after months of grief and delays. While their love getting fruition had seemed impossible at first because of the difference in their social statures, David triumphing as the king’s champion and being accepted into the royal family officially had given them hope. But Saul’s decision to listen to his elder daughter, Mirab’s demands, and select her to be David’s bride had caused much chaos, leading to extreme heartbreak for the protagonist and his lover. Then David took matters into his own hands, put up a stern face, and simply announced to Saul that he would marry only Mychal, or nobody else. Despite Saul not fighting back against this demand, he kept delaying the marriage before sending David on a suicidal mission, which was already sabotaged. It is now, when David returns triumphant from this mission and makes an even sterner demand to be married to his beloved, that the wedding finally takes place.
Invitations are sent to noblemen and their families all over the kingdom, as Israel sets up for a joyous celebration of the marriage of the princess. David is also extremely loved and admired by the people of the land, and they are very enthusiastic to finally witness his marriage to the princess. Before the day of the wedding, David and Mychal are made to go through the religious traditions, as they both take dips at the holy Mikveh Pool and say their respective prayers. Mychal had already made an attempt to make amends with her sister, Mirab, earlier in the episode, as both were extremely shocked and aggrieved at their mother’s sudden banishment. Although Mirab had refused to soften up then, stating that there was no familial tie left between any of them, she eventually changes her stance and gets back close to Mychal, even carrying out the responsibilities of an elder sister.
Before the wedding, as Mychal is being dressed by Sara, Mirab visits her and gives her the precious ring that Ahinoam had given her back in season 2 episode 5. The ring, which was once a blessed gift to Mirab by her mother, for it was she who was then supposed to marry David, now becomes the only gift Mychal’sr family gives her. As Mychal expresses her despair over the absence of their mother, Mirab promises that she will carry out all the responsibilities of Ahinoam in her absence, indicating that the sisters have forgiven each other and are united once again. Meanwhile, David’s father, Jesse, travels to the royal court before the wedding, and he offers a silver ring as the only item that he can give King Saul, as the father of the groom. Saul kindly refuses any gift and offers Jesse whatever wealth he wants, but the honest shepherd turns all of it down, stating that he does not need any gifts either.
Jesse admits that he is sad that his son, David, no longer stays with the family at Bethlehem, as he had been chosen by the king to stay at Gibbeah, but he also blesses the union. The wedding ceremony takes place in full grandeur, with guests from all over the kingdom giving their blessings, as well as material gifts, to the newlyweds. Before taking his leave quite early in the day, Jesse reminds David about the grave responsibility of being the King of Israel that still rests on his shoulders, and encourages him to be a kind and just leader, perhaps making it clear that he is not very fond of Saul. The only adverse development during the wedding is the antagonistic Adriel reminding David once again how he owes his life to the chief elder. David now sternly states that he does not owe Adriel anything and that he does not care if the truth about the identity of the anointed king is revealed to King Saul, and so Adriel sets out to hatch a new conspiratorial plot.
Why is Abner distressed about King Saul?
Despite the generally happy atmosphere in Israel, a very recent attack at Gibbeah also keeps King Saul and his aides a bit distressed. The attack, which was seemingly carried out by the Philistines, had left the silos at the Israelite granary completely destroyed, as the grain-filled structures had been set alight in the middle of the night. This sudden strike had left the capital in dire need of help from the neighboring lands, and Eshbaal manages to strike a deal with the King of Edom in this respect. The Israelite army, led by Jonathan, also prepares itself for any further attacks, especially during the wedding. Despite all measures having been taken with regard to the matter, Abner very visibly remains distressed, and when asked why by Saul, he speaks his heart out.
Abner states that he has no audacity to express his opinion to the king of the land, but he genuinely wants to give some advice to his old friend and compatriot, Saul. He is quite unsettled at the banishment of Ahinoam, and especially the manner in which Saul had carried it out, by literally dragging her through the castle compound and throwing her out of the gates in front of his subjects. Despite her shortcomings, Abner reminds us, Ahinoam was and still is the Queen of Israel and therefore deserves some respect. He is also quite perplexed about Saul now sleeping with the maid, Kazia, and although the king retorts that he is allowed to have concubines, Abner argues that he is concerned about the kind of message that is being spread by this morally questionable act.
Abner’s distress is not dealt with or resolved at present, but it possibly gives voice to the kind of negative narrative that has been growing against King Saul. Without even realizing it, Saul has been losing the support of the people of the kingdom, which will surely make his downfall easier in the future. In fact, Jonathan is also seen confronting his father about the queen having been banished, as he reminds Saul that no matter what Ahinoam had done, she had never really hurt or maligned him directly. All this should be enough to make Saul understand that he has been going wrong in all his decisions in recent times, but pride and greed for power have truly blinded him, it seems.
What does Sara reveal to Jonathan?
Sometime before the wedding ceremony took place, Sara had interrupted her husband’s training to give him some really auspicious and delightful news, having kept it to herself for some time now. Sara is pregnant, which she is confident about owing to her experience as a healer, and she shares the news only with Jonathan so that they can celebrate it together. But there is something more on Sara’s mind, as she is concerned about the safety of herself, her husband, and of course the child in her womb, because of the complicated situation at the royal palace. She is one of the few characters who knows about David being the real anointed king, and she is intelligent enough to fear that there will be quite some objection and violence when this news is revealed and David tries to take the throne. Therefore, it is of utmost necessity to protect the child of Jonathan, the eldest prince of Israel and officially next in line for the throne.
This is why Sara decides to hide the news of her pregnancy from the world and asks Jonathan to do the same until it becomes too apparent, of course. Jonathan does not mind and swears to protect her and their child at all costs, as he already starts dreaming of teaching his child how to ride horses and fight with swords. In fact, he admits that he wants to go away from the capital once their child is born so that the three of them can have a normal and peaceful life, away from all the complications of the royal family. He also earnestly states that he will not miss his old life at all, now that he is fully dedicated to being a good husband and a good father. This small development, of Jonathan about to become a father soon, will surely bear great significance later on in House of David, as this child will also have a rightful claim to the throne of Israel.
What happens to Dinah?
Dinah faces the worst of fates among all the characters in House of David season 2 episode 7, and it all begins when she takes Mirab out for hunting training. As the women successfully kill a deer, Dinah spots a group of men in the distance, one of them being Doeg, whom she had been suspicious of for quite some time. Along with Doeg are a few men dressed in full black robes, and one of them has a patch over his eye, which immediately reminds Dinah of the group of mysterious mercenaries who had attacked her home and killed her father. She tails the men and shoots down a dove to intercept a message that was being sent to Doeg, and it clearly states that the attack on the silos was an inside job, with more such attacks on Gibbeah about to follow.
When Dinah returns to the castle with this knowledge, David and Mychal’s wedding ceremony has already started, and so she decides to not tell Eshbaal anything just yet. It is only that night, once everyone else has returned to their chambers, that Dinah tells her husband about what she had found out and also what she suspects had happened. According to her theory, someone powerful inside Gibbeah must have ordered the attack on her family and killed her father, and the same perpetrator had then set fire to the silos. What she does not realize is that it is her husband, Eshbaal, himself who was the real perpetrator behind all these incidents.
What exactly had happened to Eshbaal after he was banished from Israel is still a mystery to us, but it seems like he had made a genuine pact and even grown extremely close to the mysterious faction he had run into. It was members of this very faction that had carried out the attack on Dinah’s father, and they were also the same men she’d spotted earlier in the day. But Eshbaal must protect himself and his secret now, because of which he pushes Dinah from the high walls of the castle, killing her instantly. All he can come up with is a soft apology for leading her to such a horrible fate, admitting that he had genuinely fallen in love with her, but not enough to sabotage the secret mission he is on.
Why Does Mirab Support Her Brother?
Unfortunately for Eshbaal, Mirab becomes a witness to his crime, as she happened to walk into the scene when the murder took place. He begs and even threatens his sister to stay quiet about the incident, for the sake of the family and also for her own safety. As Mirab now figures out and explains with great surprise, Eshbaal has been single-handedly tearing apart the family from within for quite some time now, ever since his return to Israel. It was he who had convinced Ahinoam to crown him the new king in the absence of Saul, knowing well that this would cause a rift between the king and the queen. It was he who had then proposed to Mirab the plan of demanding to be married to David, which had immediately caused a rift between the two sisters. Eshbaal had indeed succeeded in his plan of destroying the House of Saul from within, but his exact intentions remain unrevealed, possibly for next week’s finale.
But despite coming to these realizations, Mirab still chooses to support her brother ultimately, as she appears at the royal court and lies about Dinah having suffered from mental duress. She says that Dinah had confided in her about her suicidal thoughts and intentionally kept it away from Eshbaal because she feared that he would not love her anymore after knowing about her emotional state. Mirab had fully understood by now that her younger brother had toyed with her emotions and taken advantage of her deep-rooted insecurities about being neglected and rejected, only to carry out some selfish plan of his. But she still chooses to support him somehow, seemingly out of genuine love and concern for him. Mirab’s character is given a sort of redemption in House of David season 2 episode 7, as her love for her siblings is made apparent. Though she seems to have taken Eshbaal’s side temporarily, it is possible that Mirab might ultimately change her stance in order to protect her other siblings, especially Mychal.
How does Saul react to learning the truth?
When Adriel’s plan of blackmailing David at the wedding feast had failed, he had immediately moved on to his next plan—of revealing David’s real identity as the anointed king to Eshbaal, knowing well that the youngest prince had ambitions of sitting on the throne. As soon as Eshbaal learns of the truth, he tells King Saul all of it, successfully turning his father against David so that the man is preoccupied with this matter while he and his friends from the mysterious faction can carry out an attack on the capital city. Thus, at the end of season 2 episode 7, Saul calls for David to visit him late at night and then confronts him. David bravely states that he had not been anointed king by Samuel, but by God himself, and this irks Saul even more. The last shot of the episode shows Saul angrily throw his spear at David, although the weapon will surely not hit the protagonist, and the resolution to this extremely tense situation will be seen in the finale of House of David season 2.
