Short Answer: Does Isaiah say God made evil?

Dear Apologist, Why does God say He “creates evil”?



This question is referring to Isaiah 45:7, which in some older translations reads:

“I am the Lord and there is no other.  I form the light and create the darkness. I make well-being and create evil.”  

The passage is situated within an extended warning to King Cyrus of Persia that the God of Israel is ultimately in charge of his fate.  It is a favorite among Atheists, who use it as a textual proof against the goodness of God.  After all, how can God be completely good if He testifies to creating evil?

The root of this confusion is the range of possible uses for the Hebrew word “ra’”.  It is commonly translated as “evil”, but there are various ways which people use the word “evil”. 

First there are “moral evils”.  These place when a person consciously chooses to sin.  The goodness of God precludes Him creating this sort of evil.  As Saint James says:

“God is not subject to temptation to evil, and He Himself tempts no one” [James 1:13].  

But there is another sort of evil which is called “natural evil”.  This refers to events in the natural world which we perceive as bad because they inflict hardship on human beings.  We certainly know God can cause those, as He did with the ten plagues upon Egypt. The Bible also refers to these calamities using the same word “ra”. 

So when we see the passage in Isaiah 45, what sort of evil are we talking about?  Is it moral evil or calamity?  The answer becomes clear when one considers how this “evil” is being contrasted in the sentence with “well-being” or “prosperity”.  In the context of this warning, the prophet is saying God can bring prosperity or ruin to Cyrus’ empire.  He’s not saying God is the author of sin.