Joe, I like that you brought up how we can misinterpret what God did when he destroyed and drove out the people living in the land of Canaan. It was actually this read-through of The Story that caught my attention, when Moses is speaking to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 9:5a and says, "It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations..." If you were only to read the book of Joshua, you might be left pretty confused as to why god was commanding such utter destruction, genocide even. However, with proper context, you begin to see the picture more clearly of a just God carrying out his justice. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot that bothers me about these sections of the Bible, but thankfully some level of explanation is given.