In the Old Testament, certain instances of warfare and destruction are recorded, where entire cities or nations were devastated. The book of Joshua describes the conquest of Canaan, where the Israelites were instructed to destroy all that breathed in certain cities, as seen in the examples of Jericho and Ai. Passages such as 1 Samuel 15:2-3 and Deuteronomy 20:16-17 provide context for these events, while also emphasizing the importance of obedience to God's commands. The prophets, including Hosea, later lament the atrocities committed by Israel's enemies, as in Hosea 13:16, highlighting the devastating consequences of violence and sin.
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This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they ambushed them on their way up from Egypt. Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.
At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.
At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.
However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. For you must devote them to complete destruction —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.
So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.
Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished. Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold. Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.
At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages. We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
And the men of Israel turned back against the other Benjamites and put to the sword all the cities, including the animals and everything else they found. And they burned down all the cities in their path.
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.
You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.
Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD. “The noise of battle is in the land— the noise of great destruction.
Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst. Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it to the descendants of Lot as their possession.” (That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)
He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell dead.