Isaiah
45:7. In one text alone we are told that God created
darkness: “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and
creating calamity” (Isa. 45:7). How can we harmonize this statement with the
analysis that God did not create the darkness found in Genesis 1:2? I would
like to make two suggestions here. He may well have had this act of the first
day in view. In this sense one can say that God formed the light and even
created the darkness. But I do not think this is Isaiah’s thought. We should rather
realize that this pronouncement is made as part of the conclusion to the famous
Cyrus oracle, Isaiah 44:24-45:4. This oracle falls into two distinct parts. In 44:24-28,
He calls Cyrus and His shepherd to release His people out of the restraint of
the Babylonian captivity; and in 45:1-4, He calls Cyrus as His Messiah to smash
Israel’s oppressors. On the one hand, then, Yahweh’s servant brings peace for God’s
people; on the other hand, Cyrus brings destruction on Israel’s enemies. Cyrus
is both the author of peace and calamity, or to use metaphorical terms, he is
both the author of light and darkness. But the one who called Cyrus to his
twofold task is none other than Yahweh, the author of truth.
We conclude, therefore, that this passage does not
bear on the discussion. (Bruce K. Waltke, Creation and Chaos: An Exegetical
and Theological Study of Biblical Cosmogony [Portland, Oreg.: Western Conservative
Baptist Seminary, 1974], 71)
