How do we reconcile the wholesale slaughter of nations by Israel with the sword against the words of Christ?

Matthew 26:52 …for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Not only men, women and children also:

Deuteronomy 2:34  And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

Were the Israelites truly in tune with the character of God? Why were they regularly afraid that He had brought them out into the desert to kill them? Was the deep darkness that fell upon Abraham in any way related to his taking of the sword to save his nephew and family?

Did the slaughter of the Shechemites by Levi and Simeon have any influence on the vow of Israel to utterly destroy their enemies?

Do you need to know? If you didn’t might Christ come to you as He did to Jacob in His trouble and be perceived as an enemy? Only trusting in the mercy of God did Jacob overcome as the true Israel of God.