2 Kings 8:12
And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.
The words were spoken when Elisha bore faithful testimony to the messengers sent by Ben-hadad, king of Syria, to ask whether the king's sickness would end in death, at a time when truth was being perverted and most of the people stood in open rebellion against God. Elisha wept as he spoke because he knew the evil Hazael would do to the children of Israel. Hazael would become an instrument and a scourge bringing destruction and suffering upon them.
The foretold evil was specific and severe: he would set Israel's strongholds on fire, slay its young men with the sword, and violently destroy its children and pregnant women. This was fulfilled in the judgments that fell on Israel during Hazael's reign and in the losses Israel suffered in its wars with Syria. Hazael was told in advance of the cruel acts he would later commit, and his astonishment at the prediction shows how people can be unaware of the evil they will do when under Satan's influence.
His history is a memorable illustration of the solemn truth that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, showing the depths to which men sink when under the control of satanic agencies, when evil tendencies are allowed to rule and character is shaped by satanic influence. Satan takes advantage of circumstances to arouse every evil tendency of the unconsecrated, unsubdued natural heart and to set on fire every evil propensity. A person who had every opportunity for obtaining a rich experience in spiritual things but did not appreciate his advantages becomes the dupe of the father of deception and falsehood. A mere spark is enough to turn his unsanctified temper into a seething cauldron that he cannot control, so that he is not master of himself but Satan speaks through him as a channel for the power of darkness, under the molding hand of Satan with no power left to go from the snare.
Being confronted beforehand with this evil was Hazael's test. His test warns anyone later tempted to betray sacred trusts for financial advantage to stop before choosing a course that brings lasting spiritual ruin.