In Isaiah 45:7, what is the meaning of “I form the light and create darkness” and how does that phrase relate to “I make peace and create evil”?

Question

7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. KJV

In the phrase "I form the light and create darkness" there appears to be a difference in the origins of light and darkness. The verse states that darkness was clearly created by God but it appears that there is no stated beginning for light, hence the word "formed" as if light was already in existence but God then formed it. We know from 1 John 1:5, that God is light. "...that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Answer 1

In hebrew, there is a special verb, bara, that means to create out of nothing. It is reserved only for God. This verb is used in Genesis, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Everything came from that source. After that, you can fashion, mold, make -- there are many verbs that can be used to build/shape that don't involve ex-nihilo creation. So Isaiah 45.7 follows the same verbal pattern as the creation account in Genesis.

In both, the verb 'bara' refers to the creation of darkness and evil. That God created it out of nothing. However the verbs ytsr, and 'sh, meaning to shape and make are used for light and peace. This suggests that the light and peace are secondary or higher level creations built from the raw stuff of darkness and evil.

Note that 'evil' here, ( r') has a broader semantic range than in English. It could also mean disorder, calamity, etc.

This idea of darkness preceeding light and evil preceeding peace is echoed in other parts of the Bible. E.g. in the Genesis account, God created the Heavens and the Earth, but there was darkness. Then God said "Let there be light". The light shines out of the darkness just as peace breaks out of evil.

Also notice that the parallel of evil is peace, not good. God sees the light and says it is good, so good is an attribute of light as well as of the higher order creations, but the end, the purpose of evil is to bring forth peace, or reconciliation, just as the purpose of darkness is to be a backdrop in which light can be brought forth. Both of these higher order creations are "good".

This is similar to other processes of molding or fashioning. E.g. God takes some impure lump of rock and puts it into the fire and the result is pure gold, or a pure thing. That pure gold is "good". The impure thing is the basic stuff out of which the good thing comes. The basic stuff is created ex-nihilo, the good stuff is fashioned/made. This is the divine hierarchy.

Answer 2

1 John 1:5b

God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Here light is a metaphor.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light and create darkness.

Here light means visible, physical light. It is not a metaphor.

the source of that light is God Himself thereby making light/peace/good eternal/infinite?

No, physical light (electromagnetic radiation) is not infinite. It is measurable and finite.

Answer 3

In order to understand what God has said in Isaiah 45:17(KJV), we must go back during time of creation, specifically when God said , "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17(KJV). Adam was commanded by God not to eat from it, Genesis 2:16(KJV). It is a test of loyalty. Man was given a freedom, a free will, a freedom of choice. Because God is love and love cannot be enforced and obedience to God's word is what makes the difference. Obedience to God's commandments will determine if we live or die. But let's take a look back at Genesis 2:17. If God, during creation time, put the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil", as part of the garden in Eden, meaning, good and evil must have already been pre-existing. We cannot "know" something which does not exist. Therefore, God being the Omnipotent One, also created evil, when he said it in Isaiah 45:7. Again, it is from our own choosing that determines our fate.