Did God really command Canaanite destruction?

Warfare in Joshua, the call for total destruction of the inhabitants, and the dispossession of the inhabitants makes this a reprehensible book for many people.

For God’s people in ancient Israel warfare was part of taking the land. This moment in redemption history has passed. Now, the church engages in spiritual warfare. The battle having moved from the physical to the spiritual context, there can be no justification for battles such as mounted in Joshua. God does not command them; God does not need them. With Christ his work proceeds otherwise. Past or present readings of Joshua that use the book to justify warfare by any nation or people against another fail to read the text within its canonical and redemptive contexts.

In all the depiction of warfare throughout the biblical text, the ultimate expression of the divine warrior’s battle is that of the servant-king freely giving himself to death on a cross. This recognizes that Christ’s self-giving in battle is the culmination of and the final expression of God’s redemptive plan.

[jabberjaw]

And we aren't just in spiritual warfare. We must also refuse to follow corrupt and evil leaders. We don't blindly follow our government. They are placed their with a sword to hand out justice to evil doers. If they are doing the opposite we must stand against them.