I don't understand why did God told the nation of Israel to kill all the people when they conquered a city. This doesn't seem like a loving God.


First of all, it is important to understand why God would give Israel this land.

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its in habitants.
(Lev. 18:24-25 NIV)

After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.
(Deut. 9:4 NIV)

The terrible sins that these nations practiced resulted in God giving their land to Israel. (Sin in this magnitude is what's going to cause the great judgments listed in the book of Revelation to come on mankind.) Israel was specifically told to kill all the inhabitants due to the evil practices performed by these people.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18 (NIV) illustrates this truth:

However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them - the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites - as the LORD your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
(Deut. 20:16-18)

God didn't want the children of Israel to learn their evil ways. In the Old Testament, once a person was given over to evil there was no hope for them.

However, we have the hope of the Gospel. Once a person accepts Jesus as Savior, he or she can be completely changed.

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