Seek The Lord That You May Live (5:1-27)
Neal Pollard
As full of the tone of rebuke that this prophecy is, there is a loving motivation. The Lord roars to get the people’s attention. He warns to turn them back from wickedness. Notice that the warnings and exhortations are “that you may live” (4,6,14). Jeremiah understand why: “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (10:23). So, Amos sets out to disclose this divine “dirge” (1) (a poem of bereavement, sung by mourners at a funeral; cf. Amos 8:10). So, Amos is leading a sorrowful song about death in the hopes that the people will live. Without repentance, things looked grim–fallen, neglected, and decimated (2-3). The remedy is to “seek the Lord that you may live” (4). What would this look like?
Seek refuge in God, not men (5-9). The cities mentioned in these verses all held national significance in their past, either as places of victory, memorial, or worship. Simply patronizing these places would not save them. Instead, God requires actively seeking Him (4,6). Otherwise, He would bring bitter judgment and fire (6-7). The reason for seeking God revolves around His character (8-9). He created and continues to be at work in nature. He is able to take even the elements and use them to execute His judgment on men. Therefore, Amos’ argument goes, “Seek the Lord that you may live.”
Get your values right (10-15). They hated those who preached the truth (10). They mistreated the disadvantaged (11). They poured their investments into big houses and vineyards that they would not be allowed to enjoy because their sins and transgressions were great (11-12). They distressed the righteous and denied the people in this “evil time” (13). God tells them that their only hope is to invert their warped values. “Seek good and not evil” (14) and “hate evil, love good” (15). “Perhaps,” God says, you will be saved if you will establish justice in the gates.
Do not let tears be a substitute for turning (16-27). Not that there were not tears. They flowed profusely. Wailing, mourning, and lamentation abounded at the thought of God’s judgment (16-17). Though they longed for “the day of the Lord,” Amos warns that it will be a day of darkness and not light for them (18-20). He hated their worship, rejected their offerings, and deplored their singing (21-23). What did He want instead? “Let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (24). But, because they would not do this, they should anticipate another “wilderness wandering” (25), exile north of Damascus (27). They had leaned on idols (26), and God tells them to take those with them as they are carried away from their homes.
God shows us what He wants when we have strayed. First, renewed trust in His power to save. Second, moral choices that reflect His word rather than that of the world. Third, genuine repentance rather than sorrow at the wages of sin. Isn’t it interesting that, though times have changed drastically from Amos’ day, little has changed from heaven’s perspective!
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