2 Kings — Chapter 8

He settled his countenance, and was troubled, and wept. Lapide: Elisha wept when he saw in the spirit all the evils that Hazael would do to Israel — slaughtering children, ripping open pregnant women. The weeping of the prophet recalls Christ weeping over Jerusalem. The holy man grieves for the sins and sufferings of others more than for his own, and sees in spirit what the worldly man cannot imagine.

He wept. And Hazael said to him: Why doth my lord weep? He answered: Because I know the evil that thou wilt do to the children of Israel. Lapide: Elisha wept because he saw in the spirit the atrocities Hazael would commit — burning cities, killing young men with the sword, dashing children to pieces, ripping open women with child. Hazael protested: \"What is thy servant but a dog, that he should do this great thing?\" Yet within days he murdered his master and became king. The saints weep for the sins others have not yet committed; the wicked cannot imagine the evil within themselves until it emerges.