All the tribes of Israel and Judah will return and become one nation,1 and although we are unable to identify the ‘lost’ tribes of Israel, the Lord can and He knows precisely who they are and where all the tribes of Israel are, whether in the new Jewish State of Israel or whether still partially in the ‘diaspora’, the worldwide dispersion. Some say that the ten tribes of Israel were not lost at all. Anna who prophesied about Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:36) was from the tribe of Asher, for instance, one of the ten tribes. And Paul says that he is from the tribe of Benjamin, also of the ten tribes. He stands before Festus and Agrippa because of the ‘hope the twelve tribes’, Acts 26:6-7. “And now I am standing trial for the ‘hope of the promise’ made by God to our fathers; the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.” He would not have said it like this if ten tribes were lost.
The practice of the Assyrians and the Babylonians of mass deportation of groups of conquered nations between the 5th and 7th century BC was to deport a limited percentage of the population, usually consisting of noble families, intellectuals, political and military leaders, religious leaders and other important people; about 10% of the most capable among the population in order that such a nation could not and would not rise up in rebellion to their new masters. The rest of the population was deliberately left behind to care for the crops and perform other tasks, so that heavy taxes could be extracted from them. At that time, according to Assyrian annals written on clay, “I Sargon besieged and conquered Samaria, led away as booty 27.290 inhabitants…I installed over [those remaining] an officer of mine and imposed upon them the tribute of the former kin.” So, neither the 10 tribes nor the 2 tribes were removed totally from the land of Israel although for those who were left behind, they felt that they were ‘decapitated’ and ‘lost’, having lost their leadership. When the exiles returned after the 70 years of Babylonian Exile (between 500-600 BC), they re-joined their fellow Israelites, although some groups stayed behind, and some small groups migrated further, probably towards the North and the East.
As numbers (12 X 12.000) are mentioned here, in contrast to the multitude no one can count, there seems to be little reason not to take these numbers seriously or to interpret them symbolically. It should be remembered in this respect that the number twelve has a special meaning both in the Old and the New Testaments: twelve tribes of Israel and twelve Apostles, who both constitute the basis and the access to the Heavenly Jerusalem, with twelve foundations and twelve gates.2 When battling against the hostile Midianites, each tribe had to provide a thousand men, twelve thousand in total, and not one was missing when revenge was taken.3 Are these hundred and forty four thousand (12 X 12.000) also referred to in Daniel 12:1? This passage is referring to a future time of great oppression and distress when Michael, the angelic prince of Israel, comes to the help of the people of Israel so that, in that time, ‘everyone whose name is found written in the book’ will be delivered?
Dan and Ephraim are missing in the list of tribes, whereas Levi and Joseph are named. Yet Dan and Ephraim are named again at the future division of the land.4 Has this to do with the idolatry to which Dan incited Israel5 at the time of the Judges?6 Jeroboam, who caused the Israelites to worship golden calves, was from the tribe of Ephraim7 and he set up the idol images in Dan.8 Ephraim is joined to idols, says Hosea 4:17. The order of the names of the tribes is also not the usual one, but this varies in the Old Testament too. Compare the lists with each other sometime, see ‘remarks’, below! These 144.000 are those who are sealed from Israel, but not yet referring to all Israel (Romans 11:26; Zechariah 12:10-14), when all Israel shall be saved. Does this ‘sealing’ take place in or outside of the Jewish State, or both?
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Zechariah 12:10–14 happens to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the whole land will mourn – ‘Eretz Israel’, the land of Israel – men and women individually. Does this mean the holy remnant of Israel? Is this ‘all Israel’,9 the final Jewish generation in Israel before the return of Christ—the miracle of the (re)birth that takes place in one day?10 The pre- fulfilment of Joel 2:28 in Acts 2:16 will have yet another and final fulfilment for all Israel—the latter rain.11
• The names of the twelve tribes are found in their order of birth in Genesis 29, 30 and 35. They are listed according to their mothers in Genesis 35:23– 26, the blessing of Jacob in Genesis 49, the numbering of the army in Numbers 1, the arrangement of the tribes in Numbers 2, the apportionment of the land in Numbers 34, the blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33, the generations of Israel in 1 Chronicles 2:1, David’s army in 1 Chronicles 12:23–37, the new apportionment of the land in Ezekiel 48:1–29 and the gates of the new Jerusalem therein, in Ezekiel 48:30–34.
• Those who are sealed in Revelation 7:5–8 have Dan missing in some manuscripts and Manasseh is included. And Manasseh is missing in other manuscripts whereas Dan is included! All the lists appear to constantly show smaller or greater differences. Now, despite many myths and wild theories (including the “Two House Theory”) it appears to be the case that many Israelites who were scattered among the nations were in fact completely lost to history, in the melting pot of nations. Some say it was part of God’s judgment on the nation of Israel, and from everything we can tell, for these Israelites, it was final.
• There is simply no truth to the claims of groups such as the “British Israelites” who believe that “the Lost Ten Tribes of the Northern House of Israel’s descendants are to be found in the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and kindred peoples of today” nor is there any support for the Mormon claim that the Native Americans are descended from the ancient Israelites – despite the fact that no less a Semitic scholar than C.H. Gordon (1908- 2001) pointed to possible links between the Israelites (or, more precisely, Judeans) and Native Americans, claiming that there was evidence ancient Hebrew inscriptions in America…
• DNA evidence (among other things) is against such an identification, and, not surprisingly, a book by former Mormon bishop Simon G. Southerton, a molecular geneticist from Australia, entitled “Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church”, has generated a fierce backlash from Mormon apologists, so damning are its conclusions to Mormonism.
• In this context it could be very possible that the ‘Wise Men from the East’ (Matthew 2:1-12) were from Babylonia. Daniel had occupied a high position at the court and after him many Jews carried on living there and did not return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile, which took place between 600 – 500 B.C. There were Jewish scholars in all kinds of fields of science, such as astronomy, in high positions at the Babylonian court. Perhaps those Wise Men were indeed Jewish astronomers who were still capable of reading the Heavens according to their original meaning and who then saw a ‘star’ rise in a certain constellation – a ‘star’ that announced the Coming of the King of the Jews so they went on their way without hesitation to pay homage to this Child.
• Who else would be interested in the birth of a ‘King of the Jews’ but Jews?
Bible References:
1.Ezekiel 39:1–14 and 15–23 2.Revelation 21:12–14 3.Numbers 31:1–5 and 49 4.Ezekiel 48 5.Leviticus 24:10–16 6.Judges 18 7.1 Kings 11:26 8.1 Kings 12:25–32 9.Romans 11:25–26 10.Ezekiel 39:22; Isaiah 66:8 11.Hosea 6:1–3
