Ten Lost Tribes

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The phrase Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to the ancient Tribes of Israel that disappeared from the Biblical account after the Kingdom of Israel was totally destroyed, enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria. Many groups of Jews have doctrines concerning the continued hidden existence or future public return of these tribes.

This is a subject that is partially based upon authenticated and documented historical fact, partially upon written religious tradition and partially upon extreme speculation. There is a vast amount of literature on the Lost Tribes and no specific source can be relied upon for a complete answer. In addition, the contemporary use of genealogical DNA testing has facilitated the assertion that certain populations are members of the Lost Tribes.

Contents

[edit] The Twelve Tribes

According to the Hebrew Bible, Jacob (who was renamed Israel) had one daughter and twelve sons by four different women.

Sons of Jacob by wife in order of birth (D = Daughter)
Leah Reuben (1) Simeon (2) Levi (3) Judah (4) Issachar (9) Zebulun (10) Dinah (D)
Rachel Joseph (11) Benjamin (12)
Bilhah (Rachel's servant) Dan (5) Naphtali (6)
Zilpah (Leah's servant) Gad (7) Asher (8)


The twelve sons fathered the Twelve Tribes of Israel. These tribes were recorded on the vestments of the Kohen Gadol (high priest). However, when the land of Israel was apportioned among the tribes in the days of Joshua, the Tribe of Levi, being priests, did not receive land. Therefore, when the tribes are listed in reference to their receipt of land, as well as to their encampments during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, the Tribe of Joseph is replaced by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph by his Egyptian wife Asenath, whom Jacob elevated to the status of full tribes).

Thus, the two divisions of the tribes are:

Traditional division:

  1. Reuben
  2. Simeon
  3. Levi
  4. Judah
  5. Issachar
  6. Zebulun
  7. Dan
  8. Naphtali
  9. Gad
  10. Asher
  11. Joseph
  12. Benjamin

Division according to apportionment of land in Israel:

  1. Reuben
  2. Simeon
  3. Judah
  4. Issachar
  5. Zebulun
  6. Dan
  7. Naphtali
  8. Gad
  9. Asher
  10. Benjamin
  11. Ephraim (son of Joseph)
  12. Manasseh (son of Joseph)

The Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Benjamin joined together to form the Kingdom of Judah and are traditionally considered the ancestors of most of today's Jews. The Tribe of Levi, was assigned hereditary religious duties and did not receive any tribal land. (Genealogical DNA tests link Aaron, a Levite who was the founder of a caste of priests (Hebrew: Kohen, pl. Kohanim), to living males who believe they are his descendants (see Y-chromosomal Aaron)). The remaining tribes (Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, Manasseh) are considered lost.

[edit] Inheritance

In Judaism, membership in the tribes is inherited patrilineally (father to son), as is priesthood (Kohen or Levite status) and royalty (the Davidic line). However, status as a Jew is inherited matrilineally.

[edit] Historical background

The Twelve Tribes were geographically divided into the:

After the civil war in the time of Solomon's son Rehoboam, ten tribes split off the United Monarchy to create the northern kingdom of Israel.

These were the nine landed tribes Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and Gad, and some of Levi which had no land allocation. The Bible makes no reference at this point to the Tribe of Simeon, and some believe that the tribe had already disappeared due to the curse of Jacob.

Judah, the southern kingdom, had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by King Rehoboam. It was populated by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (and also some of Levi and remnants of Simeon).

In 722 BCE the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed its capital Samaria and sent the Israelites into exile and captivity in Khorason, now part of eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. The Ten Lost Tribes are those who were deported. In Jewish popular culture, the ten tribes disappeared from history, leaving only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah and the Levi who evolved into the modern day Jews.

In 586 BCE the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon. About 50 years later, in 539 BCE, the Persians (who had recently conquered Babylon) allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. By the end of this era, members of the tribes seem to have abandoned their individual identities in favor of a common one.

[edit] Religious beliefs

The concept of the "Ten Lost Tribes" originally began in a religious context, based on Biblical sources, not as an ethnological idea. Some scientists have researched the topic, and at various times some have made claims of empirical evidence of the Ten Lost Tribes. However, religious and scriptural sources remain the main sources of the belief that the Ten Lost tribes have some continuing, though hidden, identity somewhere.

There are numerous references in Biblical writings. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet is told to write on one staff (quoted here in part) "For Judah..." and on the other (quoted here in part) , "For Joseph..." (the main Lost Tribe). The prophet is then told that these two groups shall be someday reunited.

There are also discussions in the Talmud as to whether the Ten Lost Tribes will eventually be reunited with the Tribe of Judah, that is, with the Jewish people.

[edit] 17th- to mid-20th-century theories

Since at least the 17th century (the time of Oliver Cromwell and Sabbatai Zevi) both Jews and Christians have proposed theories concerning the lost tribes, based to varying degrees on Biblical accounts. An Ashkenazi Jewish tradition speaks of the Lost Tribes as Die Roite Yiddelech, "The little red Jews", cut off from the rest of Jewry by the legendary river Sambation "whose foaming waters raise high up into the sky a wall of fire and smoke that is impossible to pass through".[1]

On December 23, 1649, after Manasseh ben Israel, a noted rabbi of Amsterdam had been told by Montezinus that some of the Lost Tribes were living among the Native Americans of South America, he wrote:

   
Ten Lost Tribes
 ... I think that the Ten Tribes live not only there ... but also in other lands scattered everywhere; these never did come back to the Second Temple and they keep till this day still the Jewish Religion ... [2]
   
Ten Lost Tribes

In the 1600s, Manasseh ben Israel petitioned Oliver Cromwell to allow the Jews to return to England. Since 1290, Jews had been prohibited by law from living in England. The reason why Cromwell expressed an interest in the return of the Jews to England is because several other theories abounded at that time relating to the end of the world. Many of these ideas were fixed upon the year 1666 and the Fifth Monarchy Men who were looking for the return of Jesus as the Messiah who would establish a final kingdom to rule the physical world for a thousand years. They supported Cromwell's Republic in the expectation that it was a preparation for the fifth monarchy - that is, the monarchy which should succeed the Assyrian, the Persian, the Greek, and Roman world empires. Mixed in with all of this was a background of general belief that the Lost Ten Tribes did not represent ethnic Jews who partially formed the ancient Kingdom of Judah, but tribes who maintained a separate capital at Samaria. Some have attempted to dismiss this complicated saga by stating that it is nothing but Supersessionism. However, the ideas behind these various competing theories are far more complicated, especially when Sabbatai Zevi, the "messiah" claimant and his supporters postulated that he represented groups in addition to those identified as being Jews. However, Zevi lost his credibility to all but the Donmeh when he converted to Islam and became an apostate to Judaism in 1666.

During the latter half of the 18th century, variations on this same theory were advocated by some who believed that the British Empire of nations was a manifestation of ancient prophecies recorded in the Book of Genesis predating both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.

In the 19th century, factions of the Pentecostal church and others who predated Jehovah's Witnesses advocated similar beliefs.

[edit] Nathan Ausubel's list

Nathan Ausubel wrote:

   
Ten Lost Tribes
 There are quite a number of peoples today who cling to the ancient tradition that they are descended from the Jewish Lost Tribes: the tribesmen of Afghanistan, the Mohammedan Berbers of West Africa, and the six million Christian Igbo people of Nigeria. Unquestionably, they all practice certain ancient Hebraic customs and beliefs, which lends some credibility to their fantastic-sounding claims. [3]
   
Ten Lost Tribes

In his 1953 work Pictorial History of the Jewish People, Nathan Ausubel compiled the following list of peoples connected in one way or another to this legend:

[edit] Groups claiming descent from specific Lost Tribes

Many groups claim to descend from specific Lost Tribes. These include:

[edit] Bene Ephraim

Main article: Bene Ephraim

The Bene Ephraim, also called Telugu Jews, are a small community from southern India that claim descent from the Tribe of Ephraim.

[edit] Bnei Menashe

Main article: Bnei Menashe

The Bnei Menashe (from northeast India) claim descent from the lost Tribe of Manasseh.

[edit] Beta Israel

Main article: Beta Israel

The Beta Israel (also known as Falashas) are Ethiopian Jews. Some members of Beta Israel as well as several Jewish scholars believe they are descended from the lost Tribe of Dan, as opposed to the traditional story.

[edit] Persian Jews

Main article: Persian Jews

Persian Jews (especially the Bukharan Jews) claim descent from the Tribe of Ephraim. Persian Jews (also called Iranian Jews) are members of Jewish communities living in Iran and throughout the former greatest extents of the Persian Empire.

[edit] Igbo Jews

Main article: Igbo Jews

The Igbo Jews of Nigeria claim descent variously from the tribes of Ephraim, Menasseh, Levi, Zebulun, and Gad.

[edit] Groups claiming descent from a non-specific Lost Tribe

Some groups believe to be descended from one of the Lost Tribes, but don't know which one. These include:

[edit] Lemba

Main article: Lemba

The Lemba people (Vhalemba) from Southern Africa claim to be descendants from a lost tribe which fled from what is now Yemen and journeyed south. DNA testing has genetically linked the Lemba with modern Jews. They have specific religious practices similar to those in Judaism, and a tradition of being a migrant people with clues pointing to an origin in the Middle East or North Africa. According to the oral history of the Lemba their ancestors were Jews who came from a place called Sena several hundred years ago and settled in East Africa.

[edit] Samaritans

All Samaritans, in one form or another, see themselves as original Hebrew descendants. The Samaritan community in Israel numbers about 600. These people, who still struggle to keep their ancient tradition, live in what was the capital of Samaria - Nablus and the town of Hulon. They claim to be authentic descendants of Israelite tribes that were not exiled. In Passover the whole community sacrifice on Mount Grizim. For one day the summit of Mount Grizim is transformed into a scene from biblical times.

[edit] House of Israel

Main article: House of Israel

The House of Israel are Jews in Ghana. They claim to be one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.

[edit] Pashtun

Main article: Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

The Pashtun people are ethnic Afghans who adhere to their pre-Islamic indigenous religious code of honor and culture Pashtunwali. They traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes. The Yousafzai (Yusafzai) are a large group of Pashtun tribes. Their name means "Sons of Joseph".

[edit] British Israelism

Main article: British Israelism

British Israelism (sometimes called Anglo-Israelism) is a complex set of theories, not necessarily compatible with each other, that have in common the idea that the British are the direct lineal descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. The theory is held by a growing number of Christians, usually Protestants of British descent, but now includes Orthodox Jews[citation needed] like Yair Davidy's Brit Am Israel organization[4] based in Jerusalem.

British Israelism is typically based on the idea that large numbers of the tribes were deported by Sargon, king of Assyria, on the fall of Samaria in 721 BC. Critics of the theory point out, however, that the Assyrian chronicles of the time claim that only a small number of Israelites were deported.

Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely-affiliated groups and churches with a racialized theology. Most of them promote a Euro-centric version of Christianity. Their key commonality is British Israelism theology, which teaches that white Europeans are the literal descendants of the Israelites through the Ten Tribes that were taken away into captivity by the armies of Assyria. Furthermore, the teaching holds that these (White European) Israelites are still God's Chosen People.

[edit] Bedul, Petra

In the beginning of the century, the Bedouin tribe “Bedul”, living in the caves of Petra, Jordan, captured the imagination of Zionist pioneers. Among them was the historian, explorer and first president of Israel, Itzhak Ben Zvi. Ben Zvi discovered traces of ancient Hebrew customs in the lifestyles of some Palestinian villagers and Bedouin tribes. He speculated that the inhabitants on both sides of the Jordan river may be descendants of the original Hebrew population which never left the area, despite the numerous exiles. Although 100 years ago they presented themselves to the British historians as the “Sons of Israel”, the Bedul of today deny the legend concerning their Hebrew origin and claim that they're decendents of the Nabatean who built Petra.

[edit] Antisemitic interpretations

There are various factions who have interpreted totally different meanings from the term Lost Ten Tribes, often with antisemitic elements.

Many groups who identified themselves as Christian felt the need to identify their groups with the Lost Ten Tribes in order to set themselves apart from mainstream Christianity, which they despised for various reasons including Zionism, humanitarian ideas, and for connections to Judaism.

Most of these adherents differentiate between the terms "Jew" and "Israelite" suggesting Jews usurped the identity of the true chosen people of God. The verses of Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 provide for them a basis for their beliefs rooted in scripture. They also focus on Genesis chapter 38, the story of Judah, one the original 12 sons of Jacob (Israel), and his daughter in law, Tamar, claiming that this story could be a cause of separation between certain seed lines of the Judah family, since Judah intermarried with a Canaanite woman. Another common claim is that it is not the Jews who are the Chosen People of God, but instead the Hebrews, two terms that are ordinarily considered synonymous by most people but have special connotations for extremists.

This interpretation created a problem for these groups since they could no longer accept Jews as being related to the same family origins and the same Biblical history which recorded the division of the united Hebrew Kingdom into two competing factions. To create this distinction it became necessary for groups mainly identified with the movement to invent a totally new history that removed Jews. Among the well-known believers of such ideas have been individuals such as the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see Elohim City).

Some Black groups such as the Black Hebrew Israelites make similar claims to be descended from the "real" Israelites, claiming the Jews are impostors.

[edit] Groups that others claim are descended from Lost Tribes

[edit] The Kurds

Main article: Genetic origins of the Kurds

Some believe that the Kurds represent a Lost Tribe. Recent scientific research in the field of genetic genealogy has revealed that the majority of male Kurds have a genetic inheritance that is believed to be found only among male patrilineal descendants of the Cohanim. A scientific report[5] shows that the majority of Iraqi Kurds (a representative statistical sample of the only ones among the Kurds to have been tested thus far) have this genetic inheritance.

Note that there are also a number of Kurdish Jews.

[edit] The Japanese

Main article: Jews and Judaism in Japan#Possibilities of descent from the Ten Lost Tribes

Some writers have speculated that the Japanese people themselves may be direct descendants of part of the Ten Lost Tribes. An article that has been widely circulated and published, entitled "Mystery of the Ten Lost Tribes: Japan" by Arimasa Kubo[6] (a Japanese writer living in Japan who studied the Hebrew Bible), concludes that many traditional customs and ceremonies in Japan are very similar to the ones of ancient Israel and that perhaps these rituals came from the religion and customs of the Jews and the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel who might have come to ancient Japan. [7]

Joseph Eidelberg's "The Biblical Hebrew Origin of the Japanese People" makes a similar case:

   
Ten Lost Tribes
 Late in his life, Joseph Eidelberg began analyzing ancient traditions, religious ceremonies, historical names, haiku poems, Kana writings and Japanese folk songs, discovering thousands of words with similar pronunciations, sounds and translations between Hebrew and Japanese. These discoveries are history in the making, giving credible new information on the meanings of many unknown Japanese words, numbers, songs and cultural traditions – and this book is the first time that these remarkable similarities are combined into a single consistent theory.[8]
   
Ten Lost Tribes
See also: History of the Jews in China

[edit] Media region descendants

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This theory begins with the notion that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh are the sons of Joseph, who had been in captivity (Genesis 37 through 45) and bore them with the daughter of the Pharaoh's Priest of On, Asenath (Genesis 41:45-52). The Tribe of Levi was set apart to serve in the Holy Temple (Numbers 1:47-54 2:33 3:6-7). The arrangement of the Tribes were given in Numbers 2.

It is now believed by many that the exiled tribes, who were, according to the Second Book of Kings, transported to the region of Media in what is now northwestern Iran, most likely simply assimilated with the population of the area, losing any special sense of Israelite identity. There is also Biblical and Talmudic testimony that much of the population of the "lost" tribes was simply reunited with the rest of the Israelites when they, too, were exiled and, later, returned to the Land of Israel. However, many over the years, in order to hide their Jewish or Israelite identities during tribulations, crusades, and continual exiles, have scattered among the whole earth and believed to have assimilated into the mass population.

There is now genetic testing being done to representatives of at least two groups - the Lemba in Africa and the Bnei Menashe in India - in attempts to verify claims of descendancy from the "lost ten tribes". So far, there is nothing conclusive, though in the case of the Lemba, there is a definite link [9] to Levite Hebrew ancestry, specifically Kohen.

[edit] The Saka connection

Main article: Saka

For some people studying the Lost Tribes of Israel, the Behistun Inscription has provided an invaluable missing link. George Rawlinson, Sir Henry Rawlinson's younger brother, connected the Saka/Gimiri of the Behistun Inscription with deported Israelites:

   
Ten Lost Tribes
 We have reasonable grounds for regarding the Gimirri, or Cimmerians, who first appeared on the confines of Assyria and Media in the seventh century B.C., and the Sacae of the Behistun Rock, nearly two centuries later, as identical with the Beth-Khumree of Samaria, or the Ten Tribes of the House of Israel.[10]
   
Ten Lost Tribes
Jehu kneeling at the feet of Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk.
Enlarge
Jehu kneeling at the feet of Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk.

The inscription connects the people known in Old Persian and Elamite as Saka, Sacae or Scythian with the people known in Babylonian as Gimirri or Cimmerian. This is important because the Assyrian's referred to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in their records as the "House of Khumri", named after Israel's King Omri of the 8th century BCE. Phonetically "Khumri", "Omri", and "Gimiri" are similar.[11]

   
Ten Lost Tribes
 It should be made clear from the start that the terms 'Cimmerian' and 'Scythian' were interchangeable: in Akkadian the name Iskuzai (Asguzai) occurs only exceptionally. Gimirrai (Gamir) was the normal designation for 'Cimmerians' as well as 'Scythians' in Akkadian.[12]
   
Ten Lost Tribes

In the photo of the Black Obelisk to the right, compare King Jehu's pointed Saka style headdress, which is similar to the captive Saka king seen to the far right on the Behistun Inscription. King Jehu of Israel was a successor to King Omri of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

[edit] In other religions

[edit] Mormons

Main article: Mormon view of the House of Joseph

The Book of Mormon states that a number of Native Americans are descended from Joseph. According to the Book of Mormon, sons of the prophet Lehi founded the Nephite and Lamanite civilizations in the New World. Many Mormons also teach that a number of northern Europeans are descended from Ephraim[13], making them natural heirs to God's covenant with the Israelites. Some Latter Day Saints see this relation as more symbolic (through adoption) than literal, and recent DNA testing has supported the idea that Native Americans are not related to Israelites.

[edit] Radio Church of God

Main article: Radio Church of God

In the 1920s, Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Radio Church of God, published the belief that the 10 lost tribes, after their captivity by the Assyrians, had eventually migrated to northern and western Europe and constituted large portions of the nations that now exist in those areas. This belief also formed a basis for his understanding of Bible prophecy and its fulfillment in the "latter days".

[edit] See also


The Biblical and Historical Israelites
Children of Israel · Twelve Tribes of Israel · Ten Lost Tribes

History of ancient Israel and Judah · Land of Israel · Kingdom of Israel · Kingdom of Judah · United Monarchy

Tanakh · Bible · Hebrew Bible · Old Testament · The Bible and history

[edit] References and notes

  1. ^ Moses Rosen. "The Recipe" (published as epilogue to The Face of Survival, 1987).
  2. ^ Moses Rosen. "The Recipe" (published as epilogue to The Face of Survival, 1987). Nathan Ausubel. Pictorial History of the Jewish People, Crown, 1953.
  3. ^ cited on p. 217, Pictorial History of the Jewish People by Nathan Ausubel, Crown, 1953)
  4. ^ Brit Am Israel (official web site)
  5. ^ "Are today's Jewish Priests descended from the old ones" by Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, Ph.D. (HOMO: Journal of Comparative Human Biology - Zeitschrift fuer vergleichende Biologie des Menschen, Vol. 53, No. 2-3, 2000, pg. 156-162). The significance of this genetic inheritance is shown by the following scientific report: "Origins of Old Testament Priests" by Karl Skorecki, David Goldstein, M. G. Thomas, et al. (Nature, 394:138-140, 1998).
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ [3]
  9. ^ www.aish.com
  10. ^ George Rawlinson, note in his translation of History of Herodotus, Book VII, p. 378
  11. ^ E. Raymond Capt, Missing Links Discovered in Assyrian Tablets Artisan Pub, 1985 ISBN 0-934666-15-6
  12. ^ Maurits Nanning Van Loon. "Urartian Art. Its Distinctive Traits in the Light of New Excavations", Istanbul, 1966. p. 16
  13. ^ www.ldslastdays.com/talk_tribes.htm
  • Michael Riff. The Face of Survival: Jewish Life in Eastern Europe Past and Present. Valentine Mitchell, London, 1992. ISBN 0-85303-220-3

[edit] External links

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