Accuse God of Wrongdoing

Skeptics often point to this passage and accuse God of wrongdoing. However, God didn’t sanction this incident. The Bible is filled with strange, foolish, and wicked acts of men: Lot foolishly offering his daughters to homosexuals, Jephthah’s rash vow (see 11:30–34), and many others. These incidents were not instigated by God, but were recorded for our instruction (see 1 Cor. 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16), so that we wouldn’t make the same foolish mistakes.

Judges 19:23 But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage.24 Look, here is my virgin daughter and the mans concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!25 But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go.26 Then the woman came as the day was dawning, and fell down at the door of the mans house where her master was, till it was light.27 When her master arose in the morning, and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way, there was his concubine, fallen at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.28 And he said to her, Get up and let us be going. But there was no answer. So the man lifted her onto the donkey; and the man got up and went to his place.29 When he entered his house he took a knife, laid hold of his concubine, and divided her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.30 And so it was that all who saw it said, No such deed has been done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, confer, and speak up!