The town was partially destroyed in the 4th century, possibly as a result of an earthquake.
Khirbat Karraza was populated by the Zanghariyya Bedouin tribe and the village contained a shrine for a local Muslim saint, al-Shaykh Ramadan.
The villagers used to store grain close to the shrine, certain that nobody would steal it and thereby violate the sanctity of the shrine.
A strange thing has happened to the concept of “tolerance.” It once meant we accepted the fact other people had a right to their own views, even if those views were different from ours, and even if they were wrong. But culture now defines tolerance as accepting all other views as being equally valid to our own.
The Bible proclaims an objective truth and an exclusive Gospel. As a result, Christians are sometimes accused of being unloving and intolerant. The message of 2 John is: We should love one other deeply, but we cannot tolerate error and evil in our homes or churches.
John addressed this short note to a woman and her children, which metaphorically may indicate a church and its members. He reminded them of the command, both old and new, to love one another. But in plain language he also warned his readers to reject the false teachers who were traveling about.
Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge Christ as coming in the flesh, John said, is a deceiver and an antichrist. We mustn’t accept such people, he wrote,
“For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 Jn 1:11).
What a vital balance! We’re to be loving, but discerning. Every day we come face-to-face with a world God loves; but we also daily encounter a world in which we must stand for the truth. Only John could have articulated such a delicate balance, and only 2 John explains it so concisely and plainly.
Key Thought:
It was depopulated during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine on May 4, 1948 by the Palmach’s First Battalion of Operation Yiftach.
It was located 5.2 miles (8.5 km) southeast of Safad.
While we must love one another deeply, we cannot tolerate error and evil in our churches.
Key Verse:
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (2 Jn 1:9).
Key Action:
“Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward” (2 Jn 1:8).