Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Charles,

> Why is it that an all good God cannot create darkness, or "evil"? The text
> says that He did create darkness and "evil". Does that make him a bad God?
> Or is it that we all have preconceived notions about what a good God can, or
> cannot do. I would conclude that the text does say that He did create
> darkness and "evil", but it says nothing about the goodness, or badness, of
> God.
>  



HH: Yes, by creating a world God created darkness if there was no light. 
Darkness would be an automatic by-product of a world without light. 
Since he created the world, he created darkness.

>  
>
> > I actually think that Isaiah here is expounding upon, or even disagreeing
> > with Gen. 1. Gen. 1 says that God's first creative act is to create light,
> > the darkness is already there, uncreated, like the ocean and the
> > earth even, all uncreated. Only light is created.
> >    
>
> And isn't this a preconceived notion about what the text says? Isaiah says
> God created darkness. Genesis 1:3 does not say "God created light", but
> rather "Be light". That would be like walking into a dark room and turning
> on a light switch. Light isn't created, but it becomes light.
>  



HH: The phrase implies the creation of light. The form is not an 
imperative but a jussive. So it is something like: "Let light exist." 
The same wording in used in Gen 1:6 about the creation of the sky, and 
in 1:14 for the creation of the great lights in the sky, the sun, moon, 
and stars.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard