Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Amos · About this commentary
Hate Evil, Love Good
Amos 5:14-17
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say. · WEB
The commands are affections rather than actions, the promise is hedged with a perhaps, and then the mourning begins.
Verse 14 repeats the offer with the object changed: seek good, and not evil, that you may live — where verse 4 said seek me. The two are not alternatives in this book. And the closing clause is an aside with an edge: so Yahweh will be with you, as you say. The claim was already being made; the condition was not being met.
Verse 15 sharpens the imperatives into something harder than conduct. Hate evil, love good — the demand is on the affections, and it comes before the action clause that follows: establish justice in the gate. Amos asks for reform of the courts and then asks for the disposition that would make the reform hold.
Then the hedge, and it is honest rather than grudging: it may be that Yahweh will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. No guarantee is offered. The book has already sung the funeral Amos 5:2, and this verse does not cancel it — it holds a door open without promising anyone walks through.
That perhaps is worth noticing rather than smoothing. A prophet certain of the outcome would not have used it, and a prophet indifferent to the outcome would not have troubled.
Verses 16 and 17 answer with wailing, and professionals are called in — those skillful in lamentation, summoned to the streets and the vineyards. Then the reason: I will pass through the middle of you. The verb belongs to the night in Egypt, and no doorpost is mentioned.
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