Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say.
Verse 14 turns from where Israel worshipped to how Israel lived, and one commentator notes that this shift does not replace the earlier summons but carries it forward.
In verses 14-17 the appeal is more moral, but in keeping with the call to seek Jehovah.
Just before this, God told Israel to stop travelling to its famous religious sites — Bethel, Gilgal, Beersheba. One writer explains why those holy places could not save them.
Then Jehovah appeals to Israel to seek Him and live. They are not to seek Bethel, nor to go to Gilgal, nor to travel to Beersheba... Idol worship had turned names and places loaded with religious history against the truth. When that happens, faith must look only to God Himself. It was empty or worse to praise the sacred character of places where God had once spoken, which were now openly given over to idolatry.
The chapter has just described judges hated for judging fairly and the poor trampled down. That God still speaks at all is explained by His character.
Still there was hope, for the Lord is merciful and slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work. Therefore once more we hear His pleadings, "Seek good and not evil that you may live, and so the LORD God of hosts shall be with you, as you have spoken."
"Seek good" is not a call to more religion. Israel had plenty of that, and God said He could not stand it.
He has mourned over the ruin of Israel. Now He sets the places of their false worship against Jehovah, the Creator, and urges them to come to Him and live... Still the Spirit calls them to repent. It might be that Jehovah would have compassion on the affliction of Joseph... Jehovah took no pleasure in their offerings and sacrifices. He could not bear their religious festivals. What He wanted was judgment and righteousness.
Israel was already saying the LORD was with them. The verse ties that claim to a condition, and one writer shows the danger when life and claim do not match.
He can meet us in the very depths of our weakness and failure. But there must be a genuine and wholehearted confession of our true condition. To claim that we have the Lord with us while we do our own will and walk in obvious unrighteousness is nothing but wickedness and hardness of heart. "Trust in the LORD, and do good." That is the divine order. To talk of trusting in the Lord while doing evil turns the grace of our God into lawlessness. With a good conscience we can lift up the head and move on through all kinds of difficulties. But to walk the path of faith with a bad conscience is the most dangerous thing in this world.
A small number did take the offer of life. One writer describes what they looked like when speaking out was dangerous.
In chapter 5 this remnant of Israel comes still more clearly into view: a mere tenth of the whole, a hundred left out of a thousand, and ten out of a hundred... Prudence, or wisdom, marks them in the "evil time." The power of oppression seals their lips. But in their hearts they hate the evil and love the good, and they experience the goodness of the God of hosts. So they live before Him.
The command assumes that "good" can be found. Commenting on the same pairing of hating evil and holding to good, one writer answers the practical question by pointing to a person rather than a rule.
But how, then, am I to hate what is evil? By clinging to what is good. And how am I to cling to what is good?... We cling to His blessed Person, by whom grace and truth came into the world. He Himself is perfect goodness, grace, love, meekness, holiness, truth — in short, everything that is good and lovely. We learn how to cling to what is good by clinging to Him who is perfect goodness Himself.
- Seek. The call is not to a place but to a Person. When idol worship turns sacred sites against the truth, faith looks only to God Himself.
- Good. Goodness is not an abstract standard to reach. You find it by clinging to the One who is perfect goodness.
- Live. God is merciful and slow to anger, and judgment is His strange work. So the plea keeps coming.
- With you. Israel already said the LORD was with them. To claim His presence while walking in plain unrighteousness turns grace into lawlessness.
- Remnant. A small number heard. Oppression silenced them, but in their hearts they hated evil and loved good — and so they lived before Him.
Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Israel's courts had become the place where justice died. Into that failure God speaks three commands and one uncertain promise — and the question is why He still tells a guilty people what to do.
One writer roots the answer in God's own character.
Still there was hope, for the Lord is merciful and slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work. So once more we hear His pleadings: "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said." "Hate evil and love good!"
Examples from elsewhere in the Bible show what the gate stood for.
It is well known that the gate, in the language of the East, is the seat of judicial authority. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom; that is, he became a magistrate or judge. Boaz went up to the gate to settle the question of who should redeem the inheritance.
Israel used that courtroom for the opposite purpose. (Older translations read "judgment in the gate" where the ESV reads "justice.")
Verses 10-13 describe the moral condition of Israel. They were unrighteous and loved the ways of unrighteousness. If the judge in the gate judged righteously, they hated him for it. They detested those who spoke uprightly. The poor they trampled into the dust and extorted grain from them.
The verse puts hatred and love side by side. One writer shows why they cannot be separated.
Love and hatred of evil will always be found together. The Psalmist says, "O you who love the LORD, hate evil!" (Ps. 97:10). A false charity may ignore evil under the excuse of love, and even treat evil doctrine about the Lord as of little account. Genuine love will lead us to hate evil without ignoring the good. In our hatred of evil we may overlook much good; or, in seeking to hold on to the good we may compromise with evil.
Israel had plenty of religious activity. The chapter shows what God thought of it.
After lamenting the ruin of Israel, He contrasts the places of their false worship with the LORD, the Creator, and urges them to come to Him and live. But Israel pushed away the thought of the evil day. Evil had the upper hand... Still, the Spirit calls to repentance. It might be that the LORD would have compassion on the affliction of Joseph... The LORD took no pleasure in their offerings and sacrifices. He could not bear their solemn feasts. He wanted justice and righteousness.
God holds the promise out to a "remnant," not to the whole nation. One writer describes who those people were.
In chapter 5 this remnant of Israel comes still more clearly into view. They are a mere tenth of the whole — a hundred left out of a thousand, and ten out of a hundred. (Compare Isa. 6:13.) They are marked by prudence, or wisdom, in the "evil time." The power of oppression seals their lips. But in their hearts they hate the evil and love the good, and they experience the goodness of the God of hosts. So they live before Him.
God does not promise; He says it may be. One writer explains the freedom that leaves Him.
In all this work His sovereignty shines out clearly... He has a right to do as He pleases, which man has not. Man would try to bind God to laws of his own making, and so tie down His sovereign will, refusing to let Him act outside them. But everything changes once we know two things. All our blessing hangs on His absoluteness. And this absoluteness is pleased to display itself in mercy, in which He delights... We may find, indeed we shall find, that our very title to mercy is the absence of any!
- Hate — the first command reaches the heart, not just the hands. Real love and hatred of evil always travel together; a love that overlooks evil is false.
- Love — hold on to the good. The danger runs both ways: hating evil can blind us to good, and chasing good can make us soft on evil.
- Establish — the gate was the courtroom. God wants that changed heart to show in how judges treat the poor.
- Remnant — only a handful answered: ten out of a hundred. Oppression silenced them, but in their hearts they hated evil and loved good.
- Perhaps — God offers mercy; no one can demand it. He pleads because He is merciful and slow to anger, and judgment is His strange work.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord Wailing shall be in all broadways; and they shall say in all the streets, Alas! alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
Amos 5:16 is the turning point. God stops pleading and announces the sentence. He has just called Israel to seek good and hate evil. Now He speaks under His fullest title and describes a nation in tears. The picture is not a battlefield but a funeral. Streets, squares and farmland all fill with the sound of grief.
The chapter opens with a lament over the ruin of Israel. One writer notes that Israel's own unbelief had closed the door.
In Amos 5 there is the third call to hear, with a lament over the ruin of the virgin of Israel. The prophet only speaks of God's present government. He in no way denies a later raising up of Israel. But their unbelief ruled out any means now of stopping the evil that had set in.
Right before the "therefore," God was still holding the door open.
Still there was hope, for the Lord is merciful and slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work. So once more we hear His pleading: "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said." "Hate evil and love good!"
Before God says a word of the sentence, He piles up three titles: the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord. "Hosts" is not decoration. It names the One who commands the forces that carry out the judgment.
We do not meet this name until 1 Samuel 1:3. It came in with prophetic testimony. Faith took hold of the LORD's glory when Israel had corrupted themselves and were weak and low. Scripture reveals a mighty heavenly host, and rulers and powers in the unseen world. God is the God of them all. He is also God of all the forces of nature, which He has often used to punish His enemies. It is in connection with Israel that God revealed Himself under this name, and from 1 Samuel onward these titles occur again and again to the end of the Old Testament.
The grief spreads past the city streets into the fields and vineyards. And the reason God gives for it points back to Egypt.
As judgment comes there will be wailing in the streets, and wailing with the farmer. There will be wailing in all the vineyards too, as the Lord passes through in His judgment. "For I will pass through your midst" reminds us of Egypt on the Passover night. Then the Lord passed through Egypt to strike. And now the death wail was soon to be heard among His own people.
"Those who are skilled in lamentation" points to a real occupation in Israel. Sorrow had become a service you could hire.
These examples were sincere. But real mourning, which comes from sympathy for a neighbour, was twisted into a shallow trade. Lamentation sank into an art, in which some became famous for their skill (Amos 5:16). Mourning women stood ready to come and take up a wailing for the dead. The Lord was always tender to those in distress, yet He rebuked this routine grief at the house of Jairus, whose daughter had died. He said to the hired mourners, "Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping." His sharpness was aimed at their pretence, because their sympathy was not sincere.
God does not ask people to feel nothing. What He refuses is grief that is only performance.
At a death, professional mourners were hired, most of them women… God does not want those who are grieving to be without feeling. The Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus. But He would have reality in everything. He had to say to His people, "Rend your hearts and not your garments."
The verses that follow show people who wanted the day of the Lord to come. One writer asks whether we do the same.
This is indeed presumptuous sin: to refuse to believe the gospel, and yet to brave the day of the Lord like this. It is not so uncommon… Have you never heard men say, while they add to the present confusion, "The state of the Christian world is awful, it is true. But there is one comfort: the Lord is soon coming to put it all right"? Is that not desiring the day of the Lord in a way not far from what is condemned here?
- Mercy first. Judgment is God's strange work. The wailing comes only after God pleads with Israel to seek good, hate evil, and live.
- Named first. God signs the sentence as "the God of hosts." Faith reached for that name when Israel had corrupted itself. It belongs to the One who commands heaven's armies and nature's forces alike.
- Everywhere next. Streets, squares, vineyards, the farmer called in from his field — the judgment reaches every corner of ordinary life.
- Passover reversed. "I will pass through your midst" recalls Egypt's night of death. Now the death wail sounds among God's own people.
- Reality last. Hired mourners could supply the sound of grief. God asks for torn hearts, not torn clothes. And He warns against longing for His day while adding to the evil.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.
Amos 5 has just pressed a plea on a guilty nation: seek good, hate evil, and live. This verse is what follows if the nation refuses. The mourning spreads from the streets out into the vineyards. The reason given is not an invading army. It is God Himself, passing through His own people.
The wailing is not God's first word. It comes only after the nation has turned down His offer of life:
Still there was hope, for the Lord is merciful and slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work. So once more we hear His pleading: "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said." "Hate evil and love good!"
Mourning in Israel had a professional side. Real grief had slipped into a practised skill:
Real mourning grows out of sympathy for a neighbour. But it was twisted into shallow professionalism. Grieving turned into an art, and some gained a reputation for their skill in it (Amos 5:16). Mourning women were kept ready to come and take up a wail for the dead (Jer. 9:17-18), sometimes putting it into poems (2 Chron. 35:25).
"I will pass through your midst" is not a new phrase. Israel had heard it before. On the Passover night God passed through Egypt, and the blow fell on Egypt. This time it falls on Israel:
As judgment comes there will be wailing in the streets, and wailing with the farmer. There will be wailing in all the vineyards as the Lord passes through in His judgment. "For I will pass through your midst" reminds us of Egypt on the Passover night, when the Lord passed through Egypt to strike. And now the wail of death was soon to be heard among His own people.
God's presence among His people was their great privilege. It was also their danger:
We only want to point the reader to the two practical points we have seen: the privilege and the responsibility that come with the Lord's presence among His people. If He was there to bless — as He most surely was — He was also, and just as surely, there to judge. The two things go together, and we must not try to separate them.
Amos had already given the rule that explains this. God chose them, and that choice did not shield them. It exposed them:
God had set them apart to know Jehovah, and they alone were known as His people. That is why He says, "therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." The measure of relationship is always the measure of responsibility. The nearer one is brought, the stronger are the grounds, and the higher the standard, on which one must meet God's claims in obedience.
Another writer follows the same rule into the New Testament, and shows where God's judgment starts:
"You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2) is a principle of the greatest importance. To be in special relationship with God is at once deeply blessed and deeply solemn. "Begin at my sanctuary," said the God of the Old Testament (Ezek. 9:6); "it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God," says the God of the New (1 Peter 4:17). If His people lose sight of what is due to Him, it is always present to His mind, and He will not fail to judge the dishonour done to His holy name.
- Pleading. Before the wail came an offer of life. God calls judgment His strange work. He turns to it only after people refuse His mercy.
- Passing. The same words once meant rescue. Now they mean loss: the God who passed through Egypt to strike now passes through Israel.
- Presence. God among His people is one fact with two edges: He is there to bless and there to judge. We must not separate the two.
- Proximity. The measure of relationship is the measure of responsibility. Israel was the nation God knew, and that is why the blow falls on them.
- Pattern. The principle did not end with Israel. Judgment still begins at God's own house, wherever people bear His name.