The OT is not a full revelation and can only be understood through the lens of the Gospels in aprticular and New Testament in general. And the Gospels tell us that God is not how the Jews experienced Him. Nor did God appear on earth as men would have expected the King of Kings. That's because our idea of God is warped in human qualities. And that includes spiteful angry tyrant that the OT sometimes portrays. God is not the author of death--it is contrary to His nature, wich is Life. So, the only thing we can conclude is that either God did not smite all these people or that the Jews misinterpreted what happened and "credited" God out of their own ignorance.
The whole Bible is the full revelation, Kosta. If we cut out an entire section, then we lose some of what God wants us to know about Him. We can't just keep the parts that sound nice to us and throw away the rest. We have to take it all as it was given.
So, the only thing we can conclude is that either God did not smite all these people or that the Jews misinterpreted what happened and "credited" God out of their own ignorance.
That's fashioning the God you want, not the one Who is revealed to us. If we conclude that this much of the OT was in total error, then we can't trust any of it. There would be nothing Holy about God's word.