To be fair, there is precedent for God commanding things that would lead to a murder conviction in modern times. See e.g. the Amalekite massacre.
Addendum: this assumes that the "God" of the OT describes the current Jewish conception of Yahweh, and not the "Yahweh Tzevaot" referenced in Samuel that exists as one of a pantheon of Canaanite gods including Baal and Ashtoreth.