Some ways of talking about...
Some ways of talking about God's actions in the world scare me. This passage is a case in point. Even the framers of the lectionary evidently drew back at including verses 17 and 18. Did the chronicler really believe that God would wreak punishment by sending some ancient despot/butcher to pile up corpses? This sounds like some divinity-instigated cleansing operation. Put this passage in tension with the gospel lesson for the day, John 3:14-21. I think here of a comment by Luther, "We urge Christ against the scriptures." -- Kolsti