Neither the ancient Jewish states nor modern Israel were ever large empires. This suggests that the belligerence of the ancient Israelites is greatly exaggerated. In reality, the ancient Israelites were evidently far from being as warlike a people as they are often portrayed. They quite often lost battles to numerically weaker opponents.

Moreover, both from primary sources and from archaeological materials, it is clear that an important part of the Israelite-Judean army consisted of foreign mercenaries.

And even the Canaanites, who are often described (in contrast to the Israelites) as peaceful people, were in reality no less, and perhaps even more, warlike and often became Israelite military leaders (a number of judges, Uriah the Hittite, etc.). For example, as the Jewish Encyclopedia (EЭБЭ) states:
Among the Israelite army were also natives of the city of Gath — the Gittites, גתים, who apparently formed part of the active army. These mercenaries played a significant role in the history of David’s reign; all uprisings and rebellions (Absalom, Sheba ben-Bichri, Adonijah) were suppressed by them; they also later secured the throne for Solomon.