The Israelites Go On a Rampage!  (Joshua 10) - Wow, so now the storytellers who wrote Joshua have turned up the volume on their maniacal war tales!

Joshua 10 is basically a tale of the Israelites defending their ally in Gibeon from five Amorite armies.  "Quick, Joshua!  Hurry and bring your army, because we need help badly!"  That was basically the message from the Gibeons to Joshua.

And Joshua went up to the city of Gibeon with his army, and with the help of Yahweh throwing heavy hailstones at the soldiers, OBLITERATE all the of Amorite armies.  Joshua actually told the Gibeons that the slaughter would be finished before nightfall.  However, because not even Yahweh can kill the armies in all five kingdoms in the time allotted, Yahweh does what can only be described as a cosmic Daylight Savings!

After this, perhaps just to prove a point, the Israelite armies go to each of the five Amorite kingdoms and wreak havoc on their cities, killing EVERYONE!!!  Literally, he "utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord commanded."

So, what do you think?  Do you think it's a good idea to completely annihilate entire populations (young and old, men and women, children, livestock, etc.) if God says it's okay to do so?