Sovereignty : Does God commit evil?

This question crops up from time to time when discussing predestination and sovereignty.

The first distinction that must be drawn is the basic distinction that man’s authority is not equal to God’s authority, which He possesses of Himself and from no other.

E.g. It’s sin for men to kill other men, it’s murder. But it’s not sin or evil, or darkness, for God to kill men if He chooses to. And when He does that He is being perfectly just, and not a murderer.

E.g. The Holocaust. It was evil on the part of the persons who perpetrated it. It was not evil on God’s part to allow it or foreordain it.

Historically, God raised up Israel’s enemies and used their human wickedness against Israel as an instrument of His righteous judgment. Yes, the Philistines, Ammonites, Assyrians etc. murdered the Jews, and, Yes, God killed those Jews, who had turned away from Him, by using human instruments.