Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
Ver. 14. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live] See Amos 5:4; Amos 5:6. Oh seek, seek, seek, saith our prophet; as some of the martyrs cried out, Pray, pray, pray: Mr Sanders and Mrs Askew repeated those words two different times together, Mr Marsh once, adding, Never more need. To seek God is to seek good, and to find life; for with him is the fountain of life, Psalms 36:9. To seek evil is to seek the devil, who is that evil one (ο πονηρος): it is, as Solomon saith in a like case, "a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death," Proverbs 21:6 .
And so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you] To assist and accept you in seeking good; to protect and provide for you in shunning evil. Deal courageously, therefore, and God shall be with the good, 2 Chronicles 19:11, as your seven-fold shield (επραβοειος), and exceeding great reward, Genesis 15:1. See Trapp on " Gen 15:1 "
As ye have spoken] Ut praedicatis et iactitatis, as ye boast and bear yourselves bold upon; saying, as Micah 2:11, "Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." But that is as you make it; for ye are upon your behaviour. The fault is not in God, but wholly in yourselves, if ye live not happily, reign not everlastingly, - at Paris ut vivat regnetque beatus Cogi posse negat (Horat. Eph 2:1-22). God is far from men's hearts; and therefore far from their help: for "can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3 .