Context of Evil Isaiah 45:7

Revemitchell,

I suggest you do your research from the scripture before you go about creating such threads. I agree the Hebrew word used in Isaiah is indeed "ra" and is translated to say God creates "evil". This same Hebrew word is used 125 times in the Old Testament and almost every time it is referring to moral wickedness. Posters do not need to take my word for it, all 125 verses that this word appear in are listed here- http://biblehub.com/hebrew/ra_7451.htm Study the context of the vast majority of them and it is clear is almost always means wickedness. If you don't have the time, I suggest posters at least just glance at the first few verses in which this word is used in the Bible and they will reach this conclusion by the context of the verses.

By the way, are you aware God also created the "crooked serpent" Satan? "By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." (Job 26:13). He created him and he will also destroy him, "In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1)

 

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Rev Mitchell,

Perhaps you do not grasp basic Biblical hermeneutics, besides looking at the verse in it's context, one of the basic procedures to determine the meaning of a word from the Bible is to see how it is generally used throughout the entire Bible by looking at all usages of the word in the Bible-hence why we have things such as Strong's Concordance.

Another basic principle of Biblical hermeneutics is the law of first and last use. This is when we look at the meaning of the word the very first time it is used in the Bible and the last time. Lets apply it to the Hebrew word "ra". First use in the Old Testament is Genesis 6: 5, " And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The word "evil" here clearly means wickedness. Now, what about the last time this Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament? It is found in Malachi 2:17, "Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?" Again the word evil here clearly means wickedness, thus from the principle of first use, last use, and how the word is generally used in the entire Bible it is safe to conclude in Isaiah 45:7 it means wickedness. The problem with your method of hermeneutics if you limit your study only to the one verse and the verses surrounded it, this procedure can easily lead to the developments of false doctrine-take for example if one decided only to study the doctrine of justification, but only looked in James, they would conclude you are justified by both faith and works.

 

No mainstream theologian or Baptist confession of faith that believes in the doctrine that God predestinated or "ordained" all things that come to pass believes God is the "author of evil". You are setting up a straw man argument. Show me a confession of faith that states that. You can't because there aren't any. They actually explicitly state he is not the "author" of sin.

God can create evil, but not be the author of sin if His intention for creating it is Holy and good. Intent is what makes something sinful. The common example I use is a physician, if he amputates a man's leg to save his life is it evil? No. Now what about if he does it simply to cause pain, is it evil? Yes. You want an example from the Bible? God predestinated that His son be crucified as it states "it pleased" the Lord to bruise Him, was this evil? Of course not because he did it to save people. Now that same act when performed by the Pharisees who crucified him was it evil? Yes because it was done to murder the Son of Man.

 

I would like to see these so called "theologians" you are quoting from would explain the following verses,
"But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him" (1 Samuel 16:14)

Ezekiel says: “And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. (14:9)” It was God who deceived the prophets.

Looking again in the book of Second Samuel it says: “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. (24:1)” Here we see that the Lord was angry with Israel again and he (the Lord) moved David against them in numbering the people. The word for “and he moved” means to “prick” or better yet to “stimulate, seduce, entice, persuade and provoke”. So we see the Lord “causing” David to say “Go, number Israel and Judah” because of his anger towards Israel. Then King David tells his captain of the host Joab to go out and number all the people. Then after it is all said and done, David is convicted or pricked in the heart for numbering the people and says unto the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. (24:10)” David confessed to sinning greatly before the Lord. Here it was Jehovah who moved (directed his steps) David to sin in numbering the people and then we see David confessing his sin to Jehovah for numbering the people. (To me, this is a perfect invalidation to the accusation that if it is God that causes one to sin then that person can just turn around and blame their sin on God. David was moved to do this action and yet it is evident from these verses that he was convicted of that sin and confessed that sin before the Lord.) Now, I can probably guess as to what some are probably thinking: But it says in 1 Chronicles that: “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. (21:1)” Yes, that is absolutely correct and that verse is as much Scripture and truth as the verses quoted above, yet scripture is also very clear elsewhere that Satan is nothing but God’s servant, or better yet His puppet and he does what he is told to do (Job 1:8, etc.). And one cannot deny that these Scriptures in 2nd Samuel very clearly state that it was God who moved David to number Israel.

 

One final point I will offer you for you to consider on the matter Rev is from the book of Job. "12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord" (Job 1:12), then after calamity falls upon Job, Job attributes the disasters that were done to him as coming from God, not Satan. Job says in the same chapter "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21). Was Job wrong in attributing what happened to him to God when the Lord said all that Job had was in Satan's power? The next verse tells us, "22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1:22). These events prove Satan is just God's pawn to accomplish God's purposes. Contrary to popular belief nothing happens outside of the will of God per scripture, "according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11). The verse says "all things", not "some things" are worked according to God's will and you, nor anybody else can get around that.

 

Just as the Geneva Bible explains in the margin:

"I send peace and war, prosperity and adversity"