Amos 5:15

‘“Hate evil, love good”’
(Amos 5:15)

The prophet Amos prophesied during a time when the Israelites were tending to love evil and hate good, hence his words here, encouraging the opposite! Obviously this tendency is not unique to them. It’s been mankind’s problem since the earliest times, when God lamented that ‘every imagination of the thoughts of man… was continually… evil’(Genesis 6:5)!

Eighth century BC Israel (and its surrounding nations) was one such ‘“evil time”’(Amos 5:13), the sort of place where ‘“a prudent person keeps silent”’(Amos 5:13) and keeps their head down. So Amos received a word from ‘“Yahweh”’(Amos 7:15), the LORD God, which he bravely proclaimed, recorded for us here in ‘Scripture’(2 Timothy 3:16) that all of us might take heed.

First Amos calls out the evil for what it is, starting with the surrounding regions like ‘“Damascus”’(Amos 1:3ff.), then focusing in on ‘“Israel”’(Amos 2:6ff.). We must put ourselves under his spotlight too, as we read.

Amos especially points to social injustices and corruption in society, for example in this passage mentioning ‘“you trample on the poor… you have built houses of cut stone… planted pleasant vineyards… you… afflict the just… take a bribe… turn away the needy in the courts”’(Amos 5:11-12). One verse in particular sums up the situation vividly, describing decadent women ‘who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”’(Amos 4:1). Aside from being characterised by loving such evil, they also even hated the good, again this passage describing those who ‘“hate”’(Amos 5:10) truth and justice and ‘“cast down righteousness”’(Amos 5:7). Clearly, to varying degrees, such things inflict and infect us all, blighted by ‘sin’(Romans 3:9ff.), and our societies, not just ancient Israel, and we’ll ‘groan’(Romans 8:23) through such ‘grievous times’(2 Timothy 3:1ff.) to the end.

Nevertheless, prophets of doom bring hope too, which is the focus here, as we learn to appropriately ‘“hate”’ such grievous things, whilst loving and seeking the ‘“good”’ that’s to be found through God.

Often what’s good is self-evidently lovely anyway, and so easy to love, or should be: things that are ‘true… honourable… just… pure’(Philippians 4:8) etc., and as another prophet famously summed it up, those who ‘act justly…  love mercy, and… walk humbly’(Micah 6:8). However, sometimes our ‘“deceitful”’(Jeremiah 17:9) hearts become so ‘darkened’(Romans 1:21ff.) that we start this calling ‘evil good, and good evil’(Isaiah 5:20). So we need to be ‘shown’(Micah 6:8) what’s good, by walking ‘with… God’(Micah 6:8) in prayer etc., whilst listening to and putting ourselves under His ‘word’(Hebrews 4:12), such as this prophesy from Amos here, and scripture more generally.

Then, as we begin to discern the truth about God and His goodness, and that ‘all His ways are just’(Deuteronomy 32:4), we’ll learn to ‘“‘love… God’”’(Matthew 22:37ff., cf. Deuteronomy 6:5 & Leviticus 19:18), His ‘precepts’(Psalm 19:8ff.) and ‘“commandments”’(John 14:21), the very source and definition of all that’s good, and so ‘seek’(Psalm 63:1ff.) Him all the more. As we do this, all that’s godly and good will become increasingly clear to us, as our minds become renewed and able to discern what’s truly ‘well-pleasing’(Romans 12:2), which will necessarily involve this hating of ‘evil’(Romans 12:9) too.

However, the first place we must look, to hate evil, is any found within ourselves! The more we see of God’s goodness the more we’ll discern our contrasting lack of it, and sin, and cry with Paul, ‘What a wretched man I am!’(Romans 7:24), longing with him to put to death any ‘depraved passion, evil desire… covetousness… anger… malice… and shameful speaking’(Colossians 3:5-8) etc. that we find lurking within, as God’s light increasingly shines on our darkness. We mustn’t be the one who ‘flatters himself in his own eyes… too much to detect and hate his [own] sin’(Psalm 36:2ff.).

Nevertheless, we are to detest sin more generally too, wherever it’s found, ‘hating even the clothing’(Jude 1:23) etc. tainted by ungodliness. Even so, we must always set that alongside ‘the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ’(Jude 1:21), which is the hope we’re to share, being careful to feel and display His ‘compassion’(Jude 1:22), never forgetting that as ‘sinners, Christ died for us’(Romans 5:8), who ‘all… fall’(Romans 3:23; cf. 1 John 1:8-10) short of His standards. So, we’re to sacrificially reach out like ‘Jesus’(Mark 2:17), who ‘“loved the world”’(John 3:16) with the love of God. That’s all part of this ‘“good”’ness of God we’re to ‘“love”’ – it includes loving to declare and share His ‘Good News’(Romans 1:9), not just receiving and living by it ourselves.

So let’s encourage one another to ‘“Hate evil”’ and ‘“love good”’ in all of these ways, as we ‘consider how to provoke one another to love and good works’(Hebrews 10:24).

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