The big question hanging over Saul, and the issue that would prove his metal as king would be the question of whether he would compromise in fulfilling the conquest imperative as the Israelites did after Joshua’s death. This was the major thing that was left undone, and it was the reason why Israel had suffered successive waves of oppression. The degradation of Israel throughout the period of the judges more than vindicated the seeming harshness of the edict to wipe out all the Canaanites (see comments on Joshua 10-12 for this). Would Israel now uncompromisingly do what she had failed to do before? Or more importantly, would Saul, as king, lead them to fulfil the conquest edict as uncompromisingly as did Joshua? This story shows that Saul was a man of compromise, and such a man could not fulfil what God had called his people to do at this time. It seems like a very small compromise, and again, the judgement on Saul here may seem overly harsh. But God knew that this was the tip of the iceberg in Saul’s heart. As I have said before, when we fall away from God it is generally not the result of one big bad decision but the result of many small compromises. I encourage you to consider this point here again as you read 1 Samuel 15.
Think about whether you are making any small compromises.
Read 1 Samuel 15
