Why does God sometimes command the destruction of entire peoples in the Old Testament?

The Orthodox nuance

First, we must say it honestly: these passages should not be artificially softened. They scandalize, and it is normal that they trouble us. But neither should they be torn from their context: the ancient world was marked by violence, idolatry, human sacrifice, and tribal warfare. Israel is not presented as morally superior in itself; Deuteronomy explicitly says that it does not receive the land because of its own righteousness.

In the Church's reading, these texts also have a spiritual meaning: enemy peoples become an image of the passions that must be destroyed without compromise in the heart. This does not erase the historical question, but it shows how the Church received these texts without turning them into a call to ethnic hatred.

A Christian has no right to use these texts to justify religious violence. Christ is the criterion. When the disciples want to call down fire on a village, He rebukes them. When Peter draws the sword, He stops him. In Christ, the true battle is against sin, death, and demons, not against peoples.