Amos 5:15 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Hate the evil, and love the good - (Isaiah 1:16-17; Romans 12:9, "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good").

And establish judgment in the gate - justice in the place where causes are tried.

It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious - so "peradventure" (Exodus 32:30). Not that men are to come to God with an uncertainty whether or no He will be gracious; the expression merely implies the difficulty in the way, because of the lack of true repentance on man's part, so as to stimulate the zealous earnestness of believers in seeking God (cf. Genesis 16:2; Joel 2:14; Acts 8:22).

Unto the remnant of Joseph - (see Amos 5:6, "the house of Joseph"). Israel (represented by "Ephraim," the leading tribe, and descendant of Joseph) was, comparatively to what it once was, now but a remnant, Hazael of Syria having smitten all the coasts from Jordan eastward, Gilead and Bashan, Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh (2 Kings 10:32-33) (Henderson.) Rather, 'the remnant of Israel that shall have been left after the wicked have been destroyed' (Maurer).

Amos 5:15

15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.