The Ten Lost Tribes Of Israel

When we read the scriptures we see that there is mention of the lost sheep? This phrase should sound alarm bells in the true believers mind.

NOTE: I will only be discussing the ten lost tribes here and not the two other tribes which were also lost eventually.

Jeremiah 50:5-7

5They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

6My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.

7All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers.

Here we see that YHWH has a people and they have been taken advantage of by other nations of people.

We can see that the lost sheep are Israelites as the Messiah tells his twelve disciples to go out and preach to them only to begin with:

 

Matthew 10:5-7

5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

It is clear that the Messiah was sent to establish his covenant with the lost sheep who are Israelites.

To see the inclusion of other nations in the bible you can go to Making Disciples Of All Nations

Here I will use scriptures to help you to understand where the Ten Lost Tribes Of Israel went. For this we have to fast forward to the Assyrian empire which is approximately 720 BC. At this time the Israelites were conquered by the Assyrians. First we can read the scriptures which show us that Israel and Judah (House of David), began to see them selves as too separate Houses.

Here is an incident concerning Solomon’s son Jeroboam who was ruling over all of Israel (House of Israel and Judah (Also known as the House of David) harshly, here is the response of those that lived in the north of Canaan (Called Israel today):

1 Kings 12:16-18

16 So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.

17 But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.

18 Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.

  If your read 1 Kings 12:21-24 you see that Rehoboam was going to fight against the ten tribes but was stopped by the Most High God of Israel’s prophet.

If we read the response we see in verse 17 which follows that the Children of Israel which dwelt in Judah which is in the south of Canaan (Israel) are who Rehoaboam eventually is left to rule over. Verses 18 and 19 shows the House of Israels anger against Rehoboam further when they stone one of his officials.

This explains the division between the ten tribes which are called the House of Israel in some parts of the bible and the two tribes Judah and Benjamin who are called Jews, the House of Judah or David.

So lets see what happened to the House of Israel to make them lost and need awakening today.

If we read 2 kings 17:1-24  we see the king of Assyria Shalmanaser who eventually took over Israel forcing the ten tribes out of Samaria. After which the Assyrian king puts Babylonians and Sepharvaim people in the land. NOTE: Israel is conquered because they would not keeping the commandments that where given to them by YHWH, and not because the Assyrians were stronger than Gods people Israel.

2 Kings 17:1-24

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.

2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him.

3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.

4 And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,

8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

10 And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:

11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.

13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.

14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.

15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.

22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;

23 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.

24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

After the ten tribes are removed from there land called Israel today, we can get more insight as to what happened to them in the book of 2 Esdras in the Apocrypha.

2 Esdras 13:29-50

39 And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;

40 Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.

41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,

42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.

43 And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river.

44 For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over.

45 For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth.

46 Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come,

47 The Highest shall stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through: therefore sawest thou the multitude with peace.

48 But those that be left behind of thy people are they that are found within my borders.

49 Now when he destroyeth the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he shall defend his people that remain.

50 And then shall he shew them great wonders.

So here we see that the ten tribes of Israel left the Assyrian rule in the middle east in ships and that YHWH ensured their safety as they sailed to a place called Arsareth. which literally means a hidden land. Today it is called the Americas North and south America.

Which lets us know the indigenous people in these lands before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1452, some 3000 plus years later are the ten lost tribes of Israel. That is the Native American Indians, The Aztecs, The Mexicans and others are all the Children of God from the seed of Jacob, they also inhabited many other Islands.

There are books from European historians that identify these native peoples culture with that of the Israelite culture in the bible for further reading take a look at:

Lost Tribes and Promised Lands by Ronald Sanders
The History of the American Indians by James Adair

So Now you know where the ten lost tribes are you can wake the people of Jacobs seed up so that we can get the Good news preached throughout the four corners of the earth the way it was intended.

For More information on a Remnant of the ten tribes click the link below:

People From The Tribe Of Joseph In The Book of Mormons – The Ten Lost Tribes

Peace and Shalom