There is much talk and speculation among Believers about the “Lost Tribes of Israel.” Who are these people? How did they get “lost?” To answer these questions, I need to give you a little bit of a history lesson and take you back to the time of Solomon…
It was soon after the death of King Solomon, around the year 930 BC, that the Children of Israel (the descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob) splintered into two Kingdoms as a result of irreconcilable conflicts:
The Northern Kingdom - made up of 10 of the Tribes became known as the Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom (which included Jerusalem) - made up of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin, (and some from Levi…ordained as the priestly Tribe, the Levites) became known as the Kingdom of Judah.
The Bible tells us that as a result of idolatry and failure to follow the commandments and precepts of Scripture, both Kingdoms eventually fell to foreign powers and were taken into exile. For the Northern Kingdom of Israel, this defeat and exile occurred around the year 722 BC, according to most historians. There is no record of their return:
“For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants, the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.” (2 Kings 17:22-23)
The Southern Kingdom of Judah remained until 586 BC until they were defeated and taken into captivity by the Babylonians. For 70 years they were in exile in Babylon (known as the Babylonian Captivity), but unlike the Northern Kingdom that literally vanished, a remnant from the Southern Kingdom of Judah (under Nehemiah and Zarubabel) returned in 516 BC and rebuilt Jerusalem. All Jewish People today trace their lineage to the two Southern Tribes or the Tribe of Levi.
Sadly – exactly what happened to the 10 Northern Tribes is not known. There are many theories – enough to fill a library. Some are bizarre and clearly false (like the British-Israel theory taught by one prominent American television Bible teacher until his death), while others are more feasible. In fact, where these descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob eventually ended up is so shrouded in mystery and intrigue that these ten Tribes have come to be known as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel!”
It is likely that many of these exiled sons and daughters of Jacob intermarried, assimilated and were driven to the far corners of the earth. Actually, this was not by chance…God’s Word clearly recorded this would happen in the Book of Leviticus:
“But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, I will set my face against you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.” (see Leviticus Chapter 26:14,17,25)
It seems that almost everywhere I have traveled in the world over the last two decades (over 40 countries to date) I always meet those who are convinced that their nation or ethnic group are descended from one of the Ten Lost Tribes! As the Encyclopedia Judaica so accurately states, “There is hardly a people, from the Japanese to the British, and from the Red Indians to the Afghans, who have not been suggested, and hardly a place, among them Africa, India, China, Persia, Kurdistan, Caucasia, the United States, and Great Britain.” (see Vol. 15, page 1006)
As for the Southern Kingdom of Judah, while attention is primarily drawn to the remnant that returned and rebuilt the Land, in fact, many never returned from the Babylonian Captivity. And the remnant that did were scattered again in 70 AD by the Romans and dispersed throughout the Nations. Through the centuries, these dispersed Children of Israel wandered from one place to another looking for a place they could feel safe, a place to call home. As they were driven out of one country after another – they tried to preserve their traditions and their heritage.
Today we find that there are around 6 million Jews living in Israel – but there are physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelling in almost every nation on the planet. In fact, there are estimates that the total dispersed Jewish population is anywhere from 20 to 30 million!
While the rest of the world might have lost these scattered “outcasts of Israel” - God certainly has not! In fact, I am convinced that in these Last Days He is now uncovering the descendants of these Tribes and gathering them back to Himself in order to fulfill His Word, for Jeremiah clearly states:
“Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the LORD, then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the LORD, If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the LORD.”
(Jeremiah 31:35-37)
