Here is what Todd Friel has to say about House of David by Netflix:
This New Show Is REWRITING the Bible… And It’s Worse Than You Think
Wretched / Fortis Institute | 11 March 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OG9o1lsnqQ
I am not totally fond of all Netflix seems to be doing. But neither am I fond of every criticism Todd Friel launches either. However, Todd Friel makes a much broader point than "this was wrong" or "that was a human being you maligned" (And Psalm 50:7 refers to original sin, not to a personal sin in King David's mother, so Todd Friel is right to consider that as an insult to King David's mother). That broader principle is:
And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and deceit, and the seduction of their own heart
[Jeremias (Jeremiah) 14:14]
I would definitely say, this doesn't apply here, since the Netflix series doesn't pretend to be prophecy at all, but entertainment with an educational edge. Just because the matter is biblical doesn't mean only inspired prophets are allowed to handle it. And also doesn't mean anyone and everyone handling it is claiming to be an inspired prophet.
Now, lots of Protestants would, with that broad a brush, be painting me as a false prophet too. I am adding details that are not explicit in the Bible, precisely like the Netflix series, though probably not in the same manner. If I would want to guess on how King David's mother died, I would say, she died after childbirth. This being Eve's punishment in the fullest would have reminded young David of the sin we inherit from Adam and Eve.
Now, the charge is actually in bad faith, since whoever opposes the Catholic Church actually has to add things to the Bible in order to claim a Biblical mandate for this. Note, I said the Catholic Church, not Modernists who deny the Bible in the name of Science. Now, some who are in that position would be more than willing to borrow a charge against me from Protestants who are actually against the Catholic Church too; and some of them would in fact be against Fundamentalists too. You can get "Catholics" who are unsure of Catholic dogma siding with Protestants who don't believe the Bible, and you can get both levying Jeremias 14:14 as an accusation against me. Which is about as intelligent as levying it against the Netflix series or against (more my venue) Biblical archaeology or Creation Science. Or against exegesis.
Now, the guess about death after childbirth is probably wrong.
And David departed from thence into Maspha of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother tarry with you, I beseech thee, till I know what God will do for me And he left them under the eyes of the king of Moab, and they abode with him all the days that David was in the hold
[1 Kings (1 Samuel) 22:3-4]
So is arguably the guess about a lion killing King David's mother. The one thing that's pretty certain is, she was righteous.
O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid
[Psalms 85:16]
About as righteous as King David. But this means Mary is about as righteous as Jesus. Something these Protestants don't want to hear and some Modernist "Catholics" don't want to defend. It's easier to lend half an ear to an accusation referencing Jeremias 14:14 and conclude I pretend to be a prophet, when I don't. At least for them. Less so for me. Meanwhile, if you are Catholic, you actually have to agree Our Lady is about as righteous as Our Lord, even if She's not divine. A second Eve, but one preserved from the fall.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
Sts. Rodrigo and Solomon, Martyrs
13.III.2025
Cordubae, in Hispania, sanctorum Martyrum Ruderici Presbyteri, et Salomonis.
Bible references on King David's mother can be gathered from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitzevet
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