WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL?
The Bible tells a dramatic story about a nation divided in two.
After Solomon's death, Israel split.
The southern kingdom became known as Judah.
The northern kingdom continued to be called Israel and was often identified with Ephraim or Joseph.
Eventually Assyria conquered the northern kingdom and scattered its people.
That has produced one of the great questions of Bible prophecy:
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TEN LOST TRIBES?
Did they completely disappear?
Must they someday be rediscovered and restored as ten identifiable tribes?
Ezekiel gives us a fascinating prophecy about their future.
But first, let's see whether they were really as “lost” as we sometimes imagine.
ISRAEL WAS DIVIDED
After Solomon died, the kingdom divided.
Ten tribes followed Jeroboam in the north.
Judah and Benjamin formed the southern kingdom under Solomon's son Rehoboam.
From then on, the Old Testament frequently distinguishes between:
Israel — the northern kingdom
and
Judah — the southern kingdom.
The division lasted for generations.
Then disaster came.
ASSYRIA DESTROYED THE NORTHERN KINGDOM
In 722 BC, Assyria conquered Samaria.
Many Israelites were deported and scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire.
Unlike Judah, which later returned from Babylonian captivity, the northern kingdom was never reestablished as a separate political nation.
This is where we get the expression:
“The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.”
But were all the people from those tribes actually gone?
The Bible gives us some interesting clues.
SOME NORTHERNERS WERE ALREADY WORSHIPING IN JERUSALEM
Before the northern kingdom fell, King Hezekiah invited people throughout Israel and Judah to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem.
His messengers traveled through the northern territory.
Many people mocked them.
But not everyone.
“Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.”
— 2 Chronicles 30:11
Those are northern tribes.
Some of their people were already joining Judah in worship at Jerusalem.
The political kingdom might be divided.
The people were not separated as neatly as lines on a map.
IT HAPPENED AGAIN
Years later, during the reign of Josiah, money was collected to repair the Temple.
Where did it come from?
“They had received from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin...”
— 2 Chronicles 34:9
Notice the language:
“the remnant of Israel.”
The northern kingdom had fallen.
But people from the northern tribes had not simply vanished from history.
Some remained.
Some had become associated with Judah and Jerusalem.
THEN JUDAH WENT INTO EXILE
Eventually Babylon conquered the southern kingdom too.
Jerusalem was destroyed.
The Temple was burned.
Many of the people were carried into Babylon.
Decades later, Persian rule allowed exiles to return.
We often call this simply:
“The return of Judah.”
But something interesting happens in the books describing the return.
They keep using the language of:
ALL ISRAEL.
TWELVE TRIBES — NOT TWO
When the rebuilt Temple was dedicated, the returned exiles offered:
“twelve male goats for a sin offering, one for each of the tribes of Israel.”
— Ezra 6:17
Why twelve?
If everyone believed ten tribes had disappeared forever and only two remained, that would be an odd way to describe the restored people.
Later Ezra records another offering:
“twelve bulls for all Israel...”
— Ezra 8:35
Again:
Twelve.
The restored community understood itself in relation to all Israel, not merely two surviving tribes.
THEN WE ARRIVE AT THE NEW TESTAMENT
Centuries pass.
Rome now controls the land.
Jesus is born.
Mary and Joseph bring the infant Jesus to the Temple.
There they meet an elderly prophetess named Anna.
Luke gives us an apparently insignificant detail:
“There was also a prophet, Anna...of the tribe of Asher.”
— Luke 2:36
ASHER?
Asher was one of the northern tribes.
One of the supposedly “lost ten tribes.”
Yet here is a woman from Asher worshiping at the Temple when Jesus arrives.
Apparently the northern tribes had not disappeared as completely as the phrase “Ten Lost Tribes” might lead us to think.
NOW READ EZEKIEL'S PROPHECY
Ezekiel lived during the exile.
God told him to take two sticks.
On one he was to write:
“Belonging to Judah...”
On the other:
“Belonging to Joseph (that is, to Ephraim) and all the Israelites associated with him.”
— Ezekiel 37:16
The two sticks represented the divided people:
Judah
and
Israel/Ephraim.
Then God told Ezekiel:
“Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.”
— Ezekiel 37:17
The symbolism isn't difficult.
God intended to make His divided people one again.
GOD EXPLAINS THE TWO STICKS
God doesn't leave Ezekiel's symbolic action unexplained.
He says:
“I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone...I will make them one nation in the land...”
— Ezekiel 37:21–22
Then comes an extremely important statement:
“They will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.”
— Ezekiel 37:22
God's promised future wasn't another divided Israel.
It was:
ONE PEOPLE.
But there is more.
ONE PEOPLE — ONE KING
God continues:
“There will be one king over all of them...”
— Ezekiel 37:22
Then He identifies this King in remarkable language:
“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd.”
— Ezekiel 37:24
But David had been dead for centuries when Ezekiel wrote.
God wasn't promising to resurrect David so he could return to his old throne.
The prophets repeatedly use David to point toward the coming Davidic King.
Someone from David's line was coming.
THEN JESUS ARRIVED
The New Testament opens by identifying Jesus as:
“Jesus the Messiah, the son of David...”
— Matthew 1:1
When the angel announced His birth, Mary was told:
“The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.”
— Luke 1:32
Ezekiel had promised:
one people
under
one Davidic King.
Then Jesus came.
ONE SHEPHERD
Ezekiel had also said:
“They will all have one shepherd.”
— Ezekiel 37:24
Listen to Jesus:
“I am the good shepherd.”
— John 10:11
And later:
“There shall be one flock and one shepherd.”
— John 10:16
We should be careful not to make Jesus' words say more than they say.
But the similarity is striking.
Ezekiel looked forward to God's scattered people united under one shepherd.
Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd and speaks of one flock.
BUT JESUS GOES EVEN FURTHER
The New Testament reveals something even larger than the reunion of northern and southern Israel.
Gentiles are brought near too.
Paul writes:
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one...”
— Ephesians 2:14
Then:
“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two...”
— Ephesians 2:15
God's plan did not end with gathering scattered Israelites.
In Christ, the blessing expands to the nations.
Jew and Gentile are reconciled to God through the same Christ.
DID GOD FORGET THE NORTHERN TRIBES?
No.
That's really the point.
The Assyrian conquest did not defeat God's purpose.
People from northern tribes remained.
Some joined Judah in worship.
The returned exiles offered sacrifices representing all twelve tribes.
And centuries later Anna could still be identified as belonging to Asher.
Then the promised Son of David appeared.
God had not forgotten anyone.
DO WE NEED TO FIND TEN LOST TRIBES TODAY?
That is where this becomes important for prophecy.
Some theories depend upon identifying the supposedly lost tribes somewhere in the modern world.
But before beginning that search, read the biblical story.
Ezekiel's emphasis isn't on keeping Israel permanently divided into identifiable tribal nations.
His emphasis is exactly the opposite:
“They will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.”
God was moving:
from division
to
unity.
From:
two kingdoms
to
one people.
From:
competing kings
to
ONE KING.
AND WHO IS THAT KING?
Ezekiel calls Him:
“My servant David.”
The New Testament calls Jesus:
“the Son of David.”
Ezekiel says God's people will have:
“one shepherd.”
Jesus says:
“I am the good shepherd.”
Ezekiel saw God's divided people brought together under one everlasting King.
The New Testament announces that King.
Jesus Christ.
READ FIRST. CONCLUDE LATER.
So what happened to the Ten Lost Tribes?
Some were certainly scattered among the nations.
Many disappeared from our ability to trace their ancestry.
But the Bible itself shows that descendants of northern tribes remained among God's people.
Asher wasn't completely lost.
Neither were Manasseh or Ephraim.
And after the exile, God's people could still speak of:
“ALL ISRAEL”
and offer sacrifices representing:
ALL TWELVE TRIBES.
Ezekiel's great promise wasn't that someday God would reconstruct two old kingdoms.
It was that the division would end.
Two sticks would become one.
Two kingdoms would become one people.
One Shepherd would lead them.
One Davidic King would rule them.
And when Jesus arrived, the promised Son of David had come.
Before searching the modern world for ten missing tribes, perhaps we should first ask:
WHAT DID GOD PROMISE TO DO WITH THEM?
Read First. Conclude Later.