David Shepherd & Rev. Samuels listen to King Silas

The new NBC drama Kings premiered last night, and it’s an intriguing show to me. The basic storyline is taken from the Bible’s account of the rise of David and the kings of Israel. Though many details have (understandably) been updated and changed, there is still a remarkable amount of content and a number of overt and subtle allusions to the Biblical accounts.

It will be very interesting to see how the series develops. I’m hoping there’s enough mainstream appeal to keep it going; my gut tells me it could be a fight for this to survive, what with all the Biblical notions and all. There are enough changes and updates to the story (including a couple big twists near the end of the 2-hour premiere) that should give it enough appeal to keep it around for a while, but given the current reticence of mainstream media towards most things Christian, we’ll have to wait and see.

If nothing else, I hope this show encourages people to dig into the Bible, especially the books of Samuel and Kings, to learn more about Samuel, David, Saul, Gilboa, Shiloh, and more. It was fascinating to see some of the allusions to the Biblical record, especially some of the more subtle ones. (For example, as the king prepares for the dedication of the new capital city, he’s informed that Rev. Samuels is running late, and decides to go ahead without him – a small incident in the show, but a direct allusion to 1 Samuel 13:8-14.)

If you saw it, I’d be interested in your thoughts too. If you missed it, you can see it on Hulu. Chime in!

ESV Study Bible

If you’re looking for a good study Bible, look no further than the recently released ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible, published by Crossway. It’s a great Bible filled with notes, references, and all kinds of material that will help deepen your understanding of God’s Word.

The icing frosting on the cake is that when you buy the paper version of this study Bible, you get access to the online tool at esvstudybible.org, which has not only the same material as the paper version, plus more, it also has space on the site for you to make your own notes as you read and study.

A most excellent tool for studying Scripture.