Immediate retribution or cumulative guilt?

“Throughout the rehearsal of this story, the Chronicler depicts the failures and successes of the kings through a theological paradigm often described as 'immediate retribution,' that is, the belief that 'God’s rule of his people is expressed by his constant, direct and immediate intervention in their history' (Japhet 1993: 44) or that 'reward and punishment are not deferred, but rather follow immediately on the heels of the precipitatin events' (Dillard 1987: 76). Although this theological viewpoint is not absent from the Chronicler’s source in Samuel–Kings, the author(s) of Samuel–Kings emphasized another theological paradigm often referred to as “cumulative guilt” (see pp. 165–189 above on Kings).”—A Severe Mercy, page 490

<idle musing>
You can use either paradigm; the end result is the same: guilty! Of course, we are no more innocent than the Israelites were...
</idle musing>