The Kings and I

Last night I was pleasantly surprised by NBC's new series Kings. I had heard about the show earlier in the week, and was anxious to see it, although I did not expect much from it.

If you didn't catch it (I really encourage you to go check it out at NBC.com), here's a synopsis. The show is a modern retelling of the biblical stories of Saul and David. The first episode begins with King Silas (Saul) of the Kingdom of Gilboa celebrating the inauguration of the newly rebuilt capital city of Shiloh. The setting looks very much like a shiny new version of a 21st Century American City.

Silas has been waiting for Reverend Samuels (the prophet Samuel), his spiritual advisor, to appear to pray an invocation over the ceremony. Reverend Samuels does not appear, so Silas begins the ceremony without him. He recounts to the gathered multitude how he, a former soldier, had been chosen by God to be the king of the newly formed kingdom. The sign of God's choice of him as king was a flock of butterflies that flew around him and settled on his head like a crown. The crowd goes wild.

In the meantime, Rev. Samuels has been delayed because he is having car trouble. He stops at a rural farm house belonging to a woman named Jesse Shepherd. She lives with her seven sons. Her husband had died fighting in the war of unification (the war in which Silas rose to power). Her youngest son David helps repair the Rev. Samuels's car. Samuels wipes a smudge from David's forehead (anointing?) and gives him his broken gold watch. He calls David the boy who can fix anything.

Two years later, the kingdom is engaged in a war with the kingdom of Gath along the northern border. David and his brothers are soldiers in the army. The Gittites(?) have a technological and firepower advantage with massive tanks known as (you guessed it) Goliaths. Two Gilboans are being held hostage, and David risks life and limb to cross enemy lines and rescue the hostages. In the process, he stands up against and miraculously destroys a Goliath tank. One of the hostages rescued by David happens to be Prince Jack (Jonathan), son of King Silas. Okay, so you kind of get the picture. Silas rewards David with a post in his administration and he rises to prominence.

Now, to my evaluation. The first thing I was delighted and surprised to see was the faithfulness to the main points of the biblical story line. There are a few artistic liberties, and many of these simply relate to converting a three thousand year old story into a 21st century setting. The role of God in the story is not overlooked. In fact, it is even highlighted. Silas clearly believes God has placed him in the position as king, although he certainly takes liberty with that election (Wow, don't we all do that!). Reverend Samuels clearly represents the voice of God. In a line almost directly from Scripture, Samuels tells Silas, "The Lord has rejected you as king. He is going to take your kingdom from you and give it to a man after his own heart." David appears as a young man liked by all who is discovering God's calling for his life.

I also loved the character analysis of King Silas in the program. Silas appears as a man drunk on power who also has delusions related to God's choice of him as king. He has old war wounds that plague him (Saul's headaches?), and a brother-in-law who has a measure of control over him that causes him to make poor decisions and puts tremendous pressure on him (Is this the spirit from the Lord sent to torment Saul?). He has a lover in another town and an illegitimate son by her (possibly the Ishbosheth ("man of shame") who becomes king after Saul and Jonathan's deaths). He sees David as an asset politically, but is enraged by David's relationship with his daughter Michelle (Michal).

There was really only one point in the story that I thought took some liberties with the biblical story, and that is the character of Jack (Jonathan). The program presents Jack as a womanizing, partying, loose cannon who also is a valiant, risk, taking soldier desperately trying to please his father. I'm not sure this is necessarily an accurate portrayal of the biblical Jonathan. However, after rereading the Scripture, I think you could certainly make a case for the fact that Jonathan appears to be an adventurous, independent, young man, perhaps with some sense of entitlement, who shows incredible, albeit, sometimes risky bravery. And maybe that kind of character would also produce a wild lifestyle.

The aspect of Jack's character that is more troubling is that it appears that his womanizing tendencies are actually a cover for the fact that he is a homosexual. Silas berates Jack at one point telling him he knows about what he does with young boys at night and that if he is going to one day be king he will have to learn to control his desires. I do not think the Scripture portrays Jonathan as a homosexual, or the relationship between Jonathan and David as anything other than a deep friendship. I am troubled with what the show may do with the relationship between Jonathan and David. However, I think we need to be honest, the language that the Bible uses for the relationship between Jonathan and David is the most intense languge the Bible ever uses for describing the relationship between two men. I think we should at least be willing to enter into this conversation, to wrestle with the nature of the relationship between Jonathan and David, to be willing to discuss it with people who have questions, and to demonstrate through our relationships with other men what healthy, biblical friendship is all about. You can have a Bromance without it being anything other than deep friendship. So, we'll see where this aspect of the show goes.

If nothing else, Kings has inspired me to study the biblical story of Saul and David with more intensity. I hope that it does the same for other people and gives opportunity for discussions with others about the whole story of God's redemption.