It is my impression that, during the conquest of Canaan, the Israelites were often commanded to destroy entire populations. This was certainly carried out in the case Jericho (Joshua 6:21-25), with the exception of Rachav and her family. My question is this: In either the Bible or the Talmud, is there any mention of “fair” (in whatever sense) treatment of civilian non-combatants?
While some of the Biblical battles fought by the Jews do indeed seem unreasonably cruel, two things should probably be considered: the first was that these wars were waged under the explicit instructions of God whose claim to morality is, obviously, a great deal stronger than ours (you might like to see this essay on the subject). In other words, we human beings could never dare to act this way – even if driven by the need to protect our communities from the rampant immorality of the Canaanite nations as was the case in Joshua’s time. It is only God’s will as revealed only in those years which permitted such behavior.
The second consideration is that even Biblical battles were preceded by overtures of peace (see Deut. 20: 10). It seems that enemy populations had the option to simply leave the country or accept life under special Torah law (see Maimonides, Laws of Kings, chapter six).
I hope this will be helpful.
With my best wishes,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton