Ultimately, my friends, it comes down to the following thoughts, to whit:
I. The Ancient Hebrews came into being in the Bronze Age, worshipping what they perceived to be a primitive war God known to them as El, which was essentially the same Deity that many other Mesopotamian peoples worshipped.
II. The Ancient Hebrews did come into being precisely because said war God was in fact the True One God of the Universe, who created the universe, and all that therein lies.
III. Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel), a Covenant was established, that ultimately settled into the 12 sons of Israel.
IV. The 12 sons of Israel took themselves and their families into Egypt, wherein they all died, but their descendants were made slaves.
V. Moses led his people out of Egypt with Aaron his brother.
These are basics. You can agree or disagree all you wish. But to be blunt, there is no smoking gun that will prove this historical sketch right or wrong. So, arguing about it is essentially a mental masturbation technique that ultimately serves no purpose whatsoever.
Now, let us continue.
VI. The Hebrews, by now known more commonly as Israelites, have roamed in the desert for 40 years, until the entire generation who knew slavery has died off, including Moses. Only Joshua remains alive from those days (and possibly Caleb; his birthdate is uncertain).
VII. Upon entering the Holy Land (ie, the crossing of the Jordan River), all hell breaks loose. God orders the Israelites to do what, by our standards of the 21st Century, would be deemed as horrifically atrocious acts. That these acts were committed can't be denied, and anyone who does is a fool.
VIII.What must be remembered is that this was the BRONZE AGE! How do you expect people to behave? Furthermore, what do you expect people to understand in the behaviour of other people? I mean, seriously. If the Israelites had behaved any gentler than they did, they would have been the ones ending up with their heads on pikes!
So lets not all sit around and imagine that a bunch of Bronze Agers are going to sit around a fucking campfire with one another and sing a camp song like "Kum bay ya". Maybe you are willing to be that fucking naive and stupid, but I am damn sure not. I left that kind of pie in the sky idealism behind ALONG time ago, when I grew from childhood to manhood. Little boys must needs grow up.
I don't like genocide any more than the rest of you. I certainly would not approve of it today. But in the Bronze Age? It went with the territory. That's what people understood. In fact, that usually was the ONLY thing people understood. Shit happened, man, and you learned to live with it. Life was brutish, nasty, and short.
And guess what? In spite of the UN (what a stupid joke that is), things haven't changed that much, have they?