What Yahweh creates

Targum Jonathan says the Lord prepares light, creates darkness, makes peace, and creates punishment for evil. It concludes, “I the Lord do all these things.”

Targum Jonathan (the Aramaic paraphrase attributed to Jonathan ben Uzziel), Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 45:7, English translation: the London 'Chaldee Paraphrase' (1871), via the Sefaria API — Targum on Isaiah 45:7

Tertullian distinguishes two meanings of the word “evil”: sins and punishments. He says the devil is the author of sinful evils, while God is the creator of penal evils. He rejects treating God as creator of all evil and author of evil.

Tertullian (c. 155-c. 240), Against Marcion, Book II, ch. 14 (trans. Peter Holmes), in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885) — Book II, ch. 14 ('Evil of Two Kinds, Penal and Criminal')

Aquinas holds that the order of justice belongs to the universe, so penalty must be dealt out to sinners. Therefore God is the author of the evil that is penalty, but not of the evil that is fault. The cited passages refer to the evil of penalty, not fault.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province (1920), Summa Theologiae, First Part, q. 49, a. 2 (New Advent edition) — I, q. 49, a. 2 ('Whether the supreme good, God, is the cause of evil?'), body and reply to objection 1

John of Damascus says that when it says God creates evil, or that the Lord does every evil in a city, this does not mean the Lord causes evil. Evil is used in two ways: what is evil by nature, opposite virtue and God's will, and what is oppressive to our sensation, namely afflictions and calamities.

John of Damascus (c. 675-c. 749), An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV, ch. 19 (trans. S. D. F. Salmond), in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ser. 2, vol. 9 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1898) — Book IV, ch. 19 ('That God is not the cause of evils')

Calvin argues that “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 does not mean sin or make God the author of evil. The contrast with “peace” shows it means afflictions, wars, and other adverse occurrences. If the contrast were with righteousness, the fanatics’ argument would have some plausibility, but it is not.

John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, vol. 3 (trans. William Pringle; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society), on Isaiah 45:7 — Commentary on Isaiah 45:7, on 'making peace, and creating evil'

Clarke reads “evil” in Isaiah 45:7 as war and its attendant miseries. He says God would procure peace for the Israelites and destroy Babylon by war. Just as darkness is only the privation of light, the evil of war is the privation of peace.

Adam Clarke (1760-1832), The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes (1810-1826), note on Isaiah 45:7 — note on Isaiah 45:7, on 'I make peace, and create evil'