1 Ki. 14:15, God “shall scatter” Israel “beyond the river,” not all in one place.

2 Ki. 10:32, “In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel...” –before their final complete exile.

2 Ki. 17:6, The Assyrian king “captured Samaria and exiled Israel”

Deut. 29:28, “cast them into another land, as it is this day”

Isa. 5:26 “the end of the earth”

Isa. 11:11-12, “the four corners of the earth”

Isa. 27:13 (Vulgate), “those lost from the land of Assyria”

Isa. 49:9, “say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” An address to the lost ten tribes according to Jewish midrash “Pesikta Rabbati 31:10”

Isa. 49:21, (Ten Tribes:) “where had they been?”

Jer. 15:4, “I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth”

Hos. 2:14, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,” not a return to Canaan.

Hos. 8:8, “Israel is swallowed up now among the nations”

Hos. 9:17, “wanderers among the nations”

Ezra 1:15, ONLY “Judah and Benjamin” returned; remaining ten tribes did not return

“Israel and Judah... developed more or less independent of the other, Israel in the north and Judah in the south; and only gradually did circumstances bring them together, and then came the inevitable clash of interests, religious as well as political.” –"Hebrew Origins," Theophile James Meek, 1936, p.76

“Israel as a kingdom was never restored from Assyria, as Judah was from Babylon after 70 years.” –Jamieson, Faucett, Brown Commentary, p.650

“There never was a real return from the exile, although some individuals doubtless returned...the captivity of Israel did not actually terminate at 538 [B.C.], nor, in fact, ever.” –Geo. Ricker Berry, Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, “Was Ezekiel in the Exile?” pp.89, 92 (Journal of Biblical Literature 49 (1930)

“Many of the towns in southern Judah and Simeon were not reoccupied after the exile. This process was quite as disastrous as it is portrayed in the Old Testament...” –Thos. Davis, “Shifting Sands,” Oxford Univ. Press, 2004

“That the Redeemer comes ‘from Zion’ [Isa. 59:20] for Israel implies that Israel is in exile...” –G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson, “Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament,” Baker Academic, 2007, p.674

“The exile, into all lands, among all nations, was as irrevocably decreed as was the destruction of the city.” –Charles C. Torrey, Yale University, Journal of Biblical Literature 56 (1937), p.206

“...the returnees came only from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin —the exiles in Babylon. The ten tribes did not return...the loss of the [ten] tribes marked the greatest demographic defeat inscribed in Jewish memory since Biblical times.” –Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, “The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History,” Oxford Univ. Press, 2009, pp.17, 117

“Evidently it was a token return...” –Frank Moore Cross, Harvard University, “A Reconstruction Of The Judean Restoration,” Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975), p.15

“The tree of Israel, grown from one root with various branches, was cut into pieces.” –John Calvin, cited in Boer, “John Calvin,” pp. 190-191

“The ten [tribes] which had previously been carried away being scattered among the Parthians, Medes, Indians, and Ethiopians never returned to their native country, and are to this day held under the sway of barbarous nations.” –Sulpitius Severus (circa. 360-420 A.D.), Severus, Sacred History, bk ii, ch. Ii, in Schaff, et al., transl. Sulpitius Severus

“Jewish people often thought that ten of the twelve tribes were lost and would be restored only in the end time.” –Craig Keener, “A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew,” Eerdmans, 1999, p.315

The ten tribes’ not returning opened “a huge wound that does not heal.” –Talmudic Haga, Sefer Ha-Berit Ha-Hadash

The Bible Story of Israel

Its later history from the time of Solomon

Following is an overview of the Bible story of Israel from the time of King Solomon. You may also select the highlighted words to read additional evidence in over thirty research articles supporting the major points made. Numbered footnotes are referenced at the end. This is an excellent summary of later Bible history concerning Israel. Enjoy!

Heraldry of the Houses of Israel and Judah Following the death of King Solomon, the chosen covenant people of Israel were divided into two separate houses or kingdoms, which never reunited, as evidenced by the widely varying prophecies given to each. These were the two-tribe kingdom of the House of Judah (comprising the tribes of Judah and Benjamin), and the ten-tribe kingdom of the House of Israel. The break occurred during the reign of King Solomon's successor, King Rehoboam, about 926 B.C. (1)

During the two centuries after the division of the kingdom, the House of Israel strayed from obedience to the Word of God into pagan religious customs and practices. (2) To God, this represented Spiritual adultery (3), so he gave Israel a bill of divorce and sent her away, in accordance with Biblical precept and custom. Just as a Hebrew husband effected a divorce by physically sending his unfaithful wife out of the home (4), so God sent the ten tribes of Israel away out of their home-land of Palestine to Assyria. (5) At least six million Israelites disappeared to recorded history, and must be found somewhere today, because God promised that they would not die in dispersion, nor cease as a people.

In contrast, the House of Judah, although punished for their sins, was never divorced by God (6), and returned to Palestine after a separate 70 year Babylonian captivity. (7) The House of Judah has a different history, and a separate set of promises than the House of Israel. From Judah, the present-day followers of Judaism trace their origin. See Israel's Tribes Today by Steven M. Collins for details on the fulfillment of prophecies to the two houses of Israel and Judah.

Some critics claim that the two houses were rejoined through a small representative return to Palestine by ten-tribe Israelites during the pre-Christian era. But in Bible prophecy, the House of Israel and the House of Judah were to be reunited only at the end if the present age, at about the time of the last great battle and the establishment of Messiah's Kingdom, as we see in Ezekiel's parable of the joining of the Two Sticks. (8) The Bible specifically indicates that this reuniting of Israel was to occur only after they turned in faith to their Messiah. (9) That turning to faith in Christ could not have been fulfilled before the Messiah was manifested to the world (10), so this reunion could not have taken place in pre-Christian centuries. Furthermore, this turning to faith in Christ also requires the full conversion of Judah to Christ. Until that full conversion, there will be no full reunion, and the "lost" House of Israel must still exist as a separate people. But where?

The House of Israel was taken to at least three different locales in the Assyrian (later, Medo-Persian) Empire. In the far northern region of Mesopotamia, they were settled in the cities of Halah and Habor (11), and near the city of Nineveh.(12) In central Mesopotamia, they settled near the shores of the Caspian Sea in the province of Media.(13) In southern Mesopotamia, they settled in the region of Elam or Susiana on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The capital city of this latter region was Susa (Biblical Sushan), where Queen Esther and some of the other Hebrew exiles lived.(14) The spoken language of Medo-Persia was inflective (today called Indo-European), and the Hebrew captives would have learned this new language (15), tinged with traces of Semitic, before migrating in the early pre-Christian centuries north and then west out of Assyria and Medo-Persia into Europe. Although there is a question of origin concerning the Anglo-Saxon tribes, scholars believe that the Indo-European languages originated in Medo-Persia or Central Asia. The only people lost to history in those regions were the ten tribes of the House of Israel! This same people have fulfilled many Bible prophecies concerning Israel in the latter days.

Even before the Assyrian armies came to conquer and disperse the House of Israel, many of God's people migrated by land and sea westwards throughout the seacoasts of Europe. In early times, while Moses led most of the tribes of Israel by land out of Egypt, the tribe of Dan migrated by sea in another exodus from Egypt to Greece to become known as the "Danaan." These sea migrations continued into later years. Beyond their very evident colonizing spirit was a practical concern. The approaching threat of the brutal, enslaving Assyrian army would have been enough to cause a great many of them to flee safely away out of harms reach, westwards beyond the realm of Assyrian power and influence. In evidence of that, scholars examining the rituals and customs of the ancient Semitic and European peoples have found a Hebrew-Celtic connection. Hebrew scholars, such as Dr. Moses Margoliouth, have commented on evidences of ancient Israel in Spain and Britain. In fact, Norse, Greek, and Celtic mythology all bear a striking resemblance to the religion and customs of Israel in the Old Testament.

If the modern descendants of the House of Israel are found in Europe and North America, is there a language connection between Hebrew and English? Many reputable scholars have clearly shown examples of such a language link for centuries, including leading experts today. Israel's name in the Assyrian dialect, Khumri, is still found today in Western Europe as Cymry, and it is even pronounced the same. But are we not called Gentiles? The Hebrew word, goy, and the Greek word, ethnos, should more correctly be translated, "nations," instead of "gentiles," since Bible verses translated from these words sometimes clearly refer to Israelites. In fact, Bible prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments tells us that the House of Israel's ten tribes were to grow to become a fullness of nations, which we believe to have been fulfilled in the nations of Europe, America, and the British Commonwealth.

With this understanding, it now becomes apparent that many of God's Israel did not reject Christ in this age, since the descendants of the House of Israel have long been known as "Christendom," a term meaning Christ's kingdom or the Kingdom of God on earth. This wonderfully coincides with the prophets' assurances that the chosen nation would accept, follow, and serve their Messiah, carrying the word of the Lord to the end of the earth. (16) As a result, Christianity has a wonderful and historic Hebrew foundation.

What are the benefits of knowing these facts? Issues of the Bible and health, the Sabbath, the New Covenant, and the present reality of the Kingdom of God all hinge upon a proper understanding of the people of the Covenant, Israel. The use of Bible law principles in our national life becomes apparent because Israel was to implement the Divine precepts and teach them to the nations. Our responsibility as the Covenant People includes being a Servant Nation (17) in service to God and taking benign, lawful dominion (18) in the world. Finally, and most importantly, we understand why God had to come in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, dying for our sins, and remarrying Israel. In the Marriage Supper, Israel atones for her past sin of following heathen gods, by remarrying God in Christ through true, faithful, and abiding belief in Him. May we all live up to our Divine obligations!

As God's Servants and Witnesses (19), Israel has an obligation to carry the gospel, or good news of salvation, to all the earth. Israel does not exist in a vacuum, nor is God unconcerned with the rest of His creation. Central to the Abrahamic Covenant was that all the world should be blessed. Israel and her distinctive covenantal promises are a microcosm of what God will eventually accomplish with the whole world, when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (20) May we all have a part in carrying the good news of His promises throughout the whole earth! -J.S. Brooks

FOOTNOTES: 1. 1 Kings 12:1-25 2. 1 Kings 12:26-33; Jer. 3:2 3. Isa. 50:1, Jer. 3:6-9: 1Chron. 5:25 4. Deut. 24:1-2 5. 2 Kings 17:23; 1 Chron. 5:26 6. Hos.1:6-7 7. Ezra 1:5; 5:12-15; Jer. 25:11-12 8. Ezekiel 37:15-28 9. Jer.3:14-17; Hos. 2:7,16-20,23 10. Heb.9:26; 1Jn.3:5; Jn.17:6 11. 2 Kings 17:6 12. Tobit 1:11 13. 2 Kings 18:11 14. Esther 1:2 15. Isa. 28:11, Isa. 62:2 16. Isa. 49:6 17. Isa. 41:8; 42:1; 43:10; 44:21; Lk. 1:54 18. Num. 24:19; Gen. 1:26-28 19. Isa. 43:20; 44:8; Acts 1:8 20. Isaiah 11:9; cf. Habakkuk 2:14