Amos 5:14-27
"Good" is here identified with God (Psalms 4:6). "Seek good . . . that ye may live" (v. 14) corresponds to "Seek the LORD and ye shall live" (v. 6). Moreover, in order to seek good one must love it, in the same way that one will flee from evil to the extent that one is appalled by it (v. 15; Romans 12:9). But some will say that it is not always easy to distinguish between good and evil. Quite true, and man’s moral standards will scarcely help us to do it, since they can only compare man with man. The only sure guide is the Word of our God.
Like the multitudes in Christendom who repeat, "Thy kingdom come", and so call for the day of judgment, some were wishing for the day of the Lord . . . without realising that it would signify their downfall. They multiplied their religious observances: feast days, offerings, solemn assemblies, imagining that they were in this way hiding their real condition from God! "Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs," the LORD severely answers (v. 23) . . . Alas, how many hymns and prayers are nothing more than a futile noise before God! What He requires, let us not forget it, is truth in the heart (Psalms 51:6).
Stephen would later quote vv. 25-27 to the rulers of the Jews, to bring home to them for how long their nation had persisted in such grievous sin (Acts 7:42-43).