For (and) he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus. — The statement of this verse is peculiar to the Chronicle; and the same may be said of the next also. Both here and in the preceding account of the relations of Ahaz to Tiglath-pileser, the writer appears to have drawn upon another source than the book of Kings.
Damascus may, perhaps, be put for the Damascenes, though in that case Aram would have been more natural. (Not “at Damascus,” as Thenius renders.)
Which smote him. — Did the chronicler himself believe that the gods of Aram had any power or real existence? That such was the common belief of the Israelites in the days of Ahaz appears certain. (See Exodus 15:11; Judges 11:24; 1 Samuel 26:19.) In the latter half of Isaiah we find the nothingness of the false gods strongly asserted; but there was also another current opinion, which St. Paul repeats, and which Milton has adopted in Paradise Lost, viz., that “the things which the heathen sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons” (1 Corinthians 8:4; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Deuteronomy 32:17).
Because the gods. — Omit because (the Hebrew particle simply introduces what the speaker said). “The gods of the kings of Aram, they help them; to them will I sacrifice, that they may help me.” Such is the word ascribed to Ahaz, implying a doubt of Jehovah's power or willingness to help. (Ma'zĕrîm, “help,” an Aramaised form.)
But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. — Literally, and they (i.e., those very gods) were to him to make him stumble, and all Israel. The mode of expression, as well as the thought expressed, is highly characteristic.
Israel = Judah, as usual.