At base in the entire thread is the nagging question of how can we
square a God which countenances the wholesale annihilation of races of
human beings with a caring, loving, merciful, compassionate, empathetic
 God.

You presume that this "nagging question" can be squared.  Maybe it cannot.  Maybe the question has nothing to do with the nature of our God, which we can do little about, but has everything to do with your faith in that God. 

Maybe the God of Israel is Love and Fury in One.  Perhaps the Unity of God is Plural and Complex.