The existence of evil, death, suffering, and injustice in the world presents major questions to monotheistic religious thought, which views God as good and responsible for everything which occurs in His world. Questions regarding the source of evil, its purpose, and its status vis-à-vis God's goodness have exercised Jewish thinkers since Bible times. The biblical perception states unequivocally the responsibility of God for both good and evil. Lamentations 3:38 states: “Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?” As opposed to the dualistic Persian perception, which held that good and evil come from different sources, the Bible affirms that evil is part of the framework of God's creation, and God states, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil.” Evil, as everything else made by the Creator, has a purpose which is part of God's plan.

“The Lord has made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil”.

At the same time, the Bible recognises the difficulty for man in understanding the existence of evil, and gives expression to man's protest against the suffering, pain, and injustice in the world.

Ecclesiastes expresses a pessimistic view of the insignificance of life and the deficiency in creation: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered”. The greatest difficulty is to understand the success of the wicked in the world and the suffering of the righteous. The prophet Jeremiah does not question God's justice, but he asks, “Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper; wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?”. The strongest expression of man's cry in the face of the suffering of the good appears in the Book of Job, the righteous man who suffers without cause. The Bible does not offer any solution which alleviates the problem presented in Job. Its answer is that the purpose of evil and the lack of justice which stem from God cannot be fathomed by man.

Following along the biblical thought, the sages adopted the view that God is responsible for both good and evil, and that evil is a part of the Divine plan. They stress the good aim behind all God's deeds -- “Everything that God does, He does for the good”. They stress that in the end, all of creation, even death, is good. Evil in the world is not expressed only in the death and suffering which affect man, but even in his character. The aspect of evil found in the Evil Inclination, as expressed in the sexual urges of man, is also aimed at good -- “for had it not been for the Evil Inclination, no man would build a house or marry a woman or procreate children”.

On the question of why evil befalls the just and why wicked people receive good, the sages offer a number of answers. One answer is that the just are being punished for the sins of their fathers, while the wicked flourish because of the merits of their fathers. The Talmud questions this answer, and gives another one: “When evil befalls the just, it is because they are not completely just, while when good befalls the wicked, it is because they are not completely wicked”. Unlike the Bible, which does not recognise a reward in the World to Come, the sages use this idea as the major answer to the problem of the lack of justice in this world. The suffering that is the lot of the righteous, and the good which is the fate of the wicked are but a small part of the proper repayment of their deeds. The major payment is given to man in the World to Come.

The medieval thinkers continued to contend with the question of evil, using the answers given by the sages. Together with these answers, these thinkers also included concepts derived from Greek philosophy. The major innovation is the perception that evil is nothing but a positive term for something negative -- the lack of good. Under the influence of the Neo-Platonic philosophers, evil, which is related to matter and darkness, is regarded as a deficiency.