The Ten “Lost” Tribes Of Israel Were Never Actually Lost

Of all the dozens and dozens of signs pointing to the imminent return of Christ, two clearly stand above the rest:


1. In a technical sense the Gospel has now been preached to every nation on earth in fulfillment of Mark 13:10.  Some scholars argue that we must interpret the Greek word for “nation” strictly as an individual ethnic group, but even if that is the correct interpretation, this prophecy was likely fulfilled sometime toward the end of the 20th century or the beginning of this century.  There are certainly still several isolated tribes where the Gospel has not been preached, but the biblical “nation” must necessarily encompass a larger people group than merely a single tribe or else Paul could not have said of the Mediterranean world of his time in Colossians 1:23:

This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

2. The return of the twelve tribes of Israel to the land of Israel is on the cusp of completion.  But wait... what about the ten lost tribes?  Isn’t the only tribe back in the land the tribe of Judah—the Jews?  

For starters, the return of the Jews from Babylon to Israel included not only the tribe of Judah, but also the tribe of Benjamin.  When the Kingdom of Israel split between the ten tribes in the north under Jeroboam and the Kingdom of Judah in the south under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, Benjamin remained with Judah as part of the Kingdom of Judah.  In the strictest sense the term Jew is understood to mean someone who is either a Judahite or a Benjaminite as can be seen in the case of the Apostle Paul who was actually from the tribe of Benjamin (see Phil. 3:5), but referred to himself as a Jew (see Acts 21:39).

The Bible is crystal clear that the ten northern tribes of Israel were and are not to this day lost, but are part of the Jewish people.  Before I explain where the Bible tells us this I want to first explain that the myth of the “Ten Lost Tribes” came from the false triple witness of British-Israelism, Mormonism, and the common belief that the northern ten tribes never returned from Assyrian captivity because they eventually intermarried with the nations’ Gentiles, gave up their Jewish customs, and in effect ceased to be a unique people.

British-Israelism dates back at least to the 19th century and essentially teaches that the ten northern tribes never returned to Israel and eventually migrated to western and northern Europe, becoming the Anglo-Saxons of today, who in turn colonized North America, Australia, and parts of South Africa.  In modern times this nonsensical belief was popularized by the heretic and false prophet Herbert W. Armstrong.

The Book of Mormon taught a similar belief, the difference being that the ten tribes were said to have migrated to the Americas becoming the Native Americans.

What the Bible actually says about the ten northern tribes is quite clear.  First, they were dispersed to Egypt, Assyria (see Zech. 10:10) and other surrounding nations.  Second, and most importantly, there was a remnant from the ten northern tribes that had fled the north during the Assyrian invasion and had come to live in the Kingdom of Judah (see 2 Chron. 34:9; 35:17–18).  Therefore the Jews that were later exiled to Babylon and their children and grandchildren who returned from captivity included those from all twelve tribes.  Third, the New Testament writers wrote to those in the Diaspora with the understanding that those Jewish communities included members from all twelve tribes (e.g., Jas. 1:1; Acts 26:7).

In summary, the Jews are made up of those from all the twelve tribes of Israel and they are now back in the land in fulfillment of a great number of prophecies (e.g., Isa. 11:10–12, Ezek. 36:22–28; 37:12; 38:8; Jer. 30:3–4; Zech. 10:10).  Also, many Jews from nations north, south, and east of Israel returned to the land in the 20th and 21st centuries, these likely constituted the bulk of the remaining northern tribes (the Jews from Russia, Iran, Yemen, Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.).

For a more detailed analysis of the topic check out this article.

Newer Post Older Post