This reply had me pondering, what exactly is evil? At what point do we consider someone to be evil? Does God really create evil like the Bible suggests? Does God really send evil spirits like the Bible mentions?
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. - Isaiah 45:7
But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre - 1 Samuel 19:9
The first thing you should realize is that in Hebrew Poetry contrast is one form of parallelism...as light is contrasted to darkness, in like manner whatever disturbs our shalom should be the contrast against shalom...therefore, I make peace and create that which disturbs peace should be the correct interpretation, or order and chaos, etc., but as for evil (pre-meditatingly opposing God and His will, or intending to be malevolent) God does not "cause" this or create it to be what happens...
now having said that God does take from evil persons and situations and amplifying their already evil intentions or ways in order to exact His purpose beneficial to His own glory or to bless His people (like when He sends a lying spirit into the already bent on lying false prophets)
As for the chaos idea, it is like when when a volcano erupts and kills 1,000 people or so and everyone is running about and there is much destruction we call it chaos and judge this event as something evil but is it? I believe it is not. It is simply something natural that God made into the world so that it would function in such a way to optimize the best for life for the maximum number of persons. If the earth did not release this pressure somewhere it would explode and kill us all. So why do people always go and rebuild cities at the feet of volcanoes? I cannot figure that one out. Anyway, we may call this event evil, but God may call IT good.
Now next we must look at first the context of Isaiah 45:7 the chapter is speaking about the saving and restoration of Israel. Jeremiah 25 tells us about the coming 70 year captivity under Babylon. One year for each of the 70 Sabbath years they ignored during the 490 years of idolatrous Kings. Isaiah here alludes to this captivity and then tells us that when the time was right, the Lord would raise up Cyrus the Persian (even naming him 200 years before he was born) to rescue them and send them back to the land. Verses 7-9 is actually describing the fact that the Lord is going to engineer all the circumstances from inviting Nebuchednezzar to his defeat under Cyrus and all for His purpose (Isaiah 45:13). But Nebi was already long intent on taking Jerusalem but failed...God by lifting His hand or protection merely gives the Judah-ites over to the natural consequences of their rebellion, adultery, and compromise with their false gods, self-glorification and cunning, they had placed their faith in.
Now as for the words. The word the KJV uses for "create" is not correct. Create is " bara" (to call forth from nothingness) and this word is "yatzar" or "make" (to form or give form to) and so it is saying that the Lord, from the circumstances and according to the personalities of these people and these two men, will bring His final intent to pass.
He works all things together for the good of those who love Him, and He continually had warned them that the wages due for sin is death. For example, if you jump off a skyscraper without a net, will you not plummet into sidewalk splat? Sin, or transgression of this law, is like the consequence of transgressing gravity or any other immutable law. You know you should not do it and lovingly someone has taught you: "Thou shalt not jump off the skyscraper" but in our self will we will not have anyone telling us what to do and we jump anyhoo! So the children of Israel had transgressed the law (just as immutable as gravity) over and over and over, and their demise was inevitable. Nebi was going crazy to take over the world anyway. Only this time the Lord was
not going to intervene, in fact He encourages Nebi to conquer them using those circumstances and conditions which were already present..
Next, the word for "evil" here is actually not speaking of moral or spiritual evil (and most translations bear this out...especially the Masoretic), it is speaking of sorrow and disaster, as opposed to peaceful well-being. These rebellious idolatrous Israelites would receive the consequence of their willful actions in violation of God's immutable laws.
So IMO, God is not saying He is the originator of evil, He is allowing the disaster that is about to come upon them by simply not doing anything to stop it. He will not look upon them, after all this time (many centuries), with mercy and grace, He is finally done (the Lord will not always strive with a man). In Jeremiah, He tells the prophet not to even pray for this people He will not listen. He has given them grace on top of grace over and over and they mock His effort to bless and take all the glory and live a life of debauchery....But in the end this will cause some of them to turn unto Him and seek Him, and then, He will save them. So it is not that He created "evil" because evil is not a "thing" in and of itself it is simply the absence of all good (ultimately Him).
In His love
Brother Paul