Why does God kill innocent people and then tell Joshua to kill all his vanquished enemies?

Answer 1

== == God does not kill innocent people. God always makes sure that people are warned, by means of His prophets, that if they don't stop committing offenses, they will be destroyed.

In ancient Egypt and later, among the freed Israelites and the peoples around them were worshiping false gods. This worship involved male and female temple prostitutes, burning their firstborn children in sacrifice to false gods, homosexuality and bestiality. (Leviticus 18th chapter) Any persons that were put to death were judged worthy of it by being disobedient of God. He is the one who created everything and therefore can judge who deserves punishment. All That Above Is True And The Bible Also Says The Lord Ha Giveth And The Lord Has Taken Away.

Answer 2

According to the Book of Joshua, Joshua obeyed God's command to commit genocide and slaughter the entire population of cities he conquered - men, women and children. For a deity to order such slaughter would today be regarded as reprehensible.

In defence of God, whether or not he exists, historians say that there was no Exodus from Egypt as described in the Bible, and there was no unified military conquest of these Canaanite cities. They say the Israelites were themselves rural Canaanites who left the region of the rich coastal cities to settle peacefully in the hitherto sparsely populated interior. Centuries later, long after they had forgotten their real origins, the Hebrew people created traditions of a glorious past.