What does Amos 5:14 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Again the prophet urged the Israelites to seek good rather than evil so they could live (cf. Amos 5:4-6). Then the sovereign, almighty Yahweh would truly be with them, as they professed He was even as they practiced their injustice (cf. Numbers 23:21; Deuteronomy 20:4; Deuteronomy 31:8; Judges 6:12; Isaiah 8:10; Zephaniah 3:15; Zephaniah 3:17). He would become their defender rather then their prosecutor. [source][source]

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Context Summary

Worse judgments than those mentioned in the previous verses were in store but before they are inflicted, the entire nation is summoned to the divine bar. Whether we choose or not, "we must all appear before the judgment seat of God." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him! Note the sublimity of that last verse of Amos 4:1-13. How great is God, who made the mountains! How mysterious, who made the wind! How sublime, who calls to the dawn! How mighty, to whom mountains and peaks are stepping-stones!

But great and holy though God is, we are invited to seek Him. He desires to bless, but He must be sought. Were we more diligent in seeking, as the miner for gold, or the scientific man for nature's secrets, we should be marvelously repaid. "Eye hath not seen," etc. Amos speaks as nature's child. Often as he had tended his flocks, he had watched the Pleiades with their gentle radiance, and Orion, the herald of storm. He had listened to God calling across the waters, and had drawn life from Him. "Seek and live!" O soul, what a God is thine! Thy springs and storms await His word of command. He can turn thy darkness into the morning. Be of good cheer! [source]

Chapter Summary: Amos 5

¹  A lamentation for Israel
⁴  An exhortation to repentance
²¹  God rejects their hypocritical service