Are the Australian Aborigines one of the Lost Tribes of Israel?

Answer 1

A:Conservatively, Aborigines have lived in Australia for more than forty thousand years, whereas the Ten Tribes of Israel were destroyed less than three thousand years ago - in 722 BCE. The Australian Aborigines could not be descendants of any Israelites. We must accept that the Israelites simply merged into the cultures of the nations to which they were dispersed, adopting the local religion, language and customs.

Another Answer:

Not the Aborigines peoples but perhaps the people who migrated/imprisoned there are. Considering that the Blessings of God were split before Israel's death - the birthright went to Joseph and the Sceptre went to Judah - the rest of the sons had been told of there future descendants and this can be read in Genesis 49. The question then is 'Does God forget His promises and allows them to end thousands of years ago?' He certainly didn't forget the Sceptre promise via Judah as Christ lived and died as prophecized. Each person must search and pray on this for the answer.

A curious blessing was given by Israel to Joseph's two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim. Israel first puts his name upon the two making them his. He then puts the greater blessing upon the younger Ephraim as indicated here:

Genesis 48:17-19New King James Version (NKJV)

17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."When one looks through all of history, where do you find two brothers (very close peoples) where one is a multitude or company (Commonwealth) of Nations, and the other the most powerful nation the earth has known?

Lastly, according to recent Mitrochondra DNA findings - mtDNA - no living being could have existed before 25,000 years ago (as it is currently calculated).

Answer:

No; that is a fanciful notion, or wishful thinking, contradicted by DNA studies.

Just as today, Israelites came in differing skin-tones, heights, and body-types. Our tradition is that the twelve sons of Jacob (the 12 Tribes) were not completely similar to each other in appearance, though none of them was really dark-skinned (Rashi commentary on Genesis 12:11).

Abraham and Sarah came from southern Iraq and their wider family from northern Iraq. Since DNA tests have shown that Jews intermarried infrequently throughout history, Abraham and the Israelites probably looked like Jews today.

DNA testing of Jewish communities worldwide has shown that they are all interrelated and of Middle Eastern genetics, comparable to the Sephardim today (not African or Egyptian).

In 2000, the analysis of a report by Nicholas Wade "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, evidence of relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition."

The only exception to this is the Ethiopian Black Jews, who show only a trace of DNA connection to other Jewish communities. Western ethnologists today hold the view that the Jews of Gondar (Ethiopia) either emerged from a Judaizing strain among Ethiopian Christians, or were converted by Yemeni Jews who crossed the Red Sea.

A study by Professors Lucotte and Smets has shown that the genetic father of Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) was close to the Ethiopian non-Jewish populations. This is consistent with the theory that Beta Israel are descendants of ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia, not the Middle East.

Hammer et al. in 2000, and the team of Shen in 2004, arrive at similar conclusions, namely that the DNA of the Ethiopian Jews probably indicates a conversion of local populations.

It has been estimated that this happened some 2,000 years ago.

And in America:

The beliefs and practices of Black Hebrew groups vary considerably. The differences are so great that historian James Tinney has suggested the classification of the organizations into three quite distinct groups.

Some of these groups are actually Christians, or part-Christians in their beliefs and practices. They have titles such as Church of the Living God, the Church of God and Saints of Christ, and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ. Others profess beliefs closer to Judaism, such as the Commandment Keepers.

As Judaism sees it, the issue with their claims is that they can produce no generally-accepted evidence of actual Semitic ancestry. These groups created themselves spontaneously within recent history, from within the wider African-American population.

Any African-Americans who choose to become actual Jews through proper conversion are accepted into Judaism.