How could God be so cruel as to have all the children in the land of Canaan killed?
Children often suffer the consequences of their parents sins whether God directly intervenes or not. Think of what these children would have suffered if God had not intervened and taken their lives. They would have grown up in abusive sinful circumstances that allowed both child sacrifice and all manner of abusive sexual sins. In most cases, when these children became adults they would have repeated the same sins on the generation to follow. Look at this from God’s point of view. To Him, death for these children was merely a transition from miserable earthly existence to a heavenly presence with Him. Further, He has spared them from an eternity in hell if they continued in the sins of their parents. Consider also the condition of these children if God had only commanded that their parents be put to death. Now he would have left a nation full of embittered orphans. These children would not understand why their parents were taken from them and would grow up to hate Israel and God. Many o
