How can "the government" carry out its responsibility to wield the sword without people to do it for them. Government is an entity made up of people - not just an abstract concept.

This is spoken to the nation of Israel:

Leviticus 19:17-18 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

The nation that God sent out to war, to conquer those satanic nations that were currently occupying the Promised Land. Are you stating that when they obeyed God and went to war, that they were hating those people? If that is your conclusion, you have God making them break His own laws - and that would also make the God of war (which the OT calls God) a God of hate, rather than love, which the Bible states He is.