Where were the two nations of gods people taken into captivity?

Answer 1

The two "nations" were the "Houses" or "Kingdoms" of (1): ISRAEL and (2): JUDAH.

The name "ISRAEL" was named on the tribe of Joseph and split between his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, born to him while he was in Egyptian captivity [see Gen.48:16 where the blinded Jacob {whose name was changed to Israel} declared to Joseph regarding the future descendants of his two sons: '...LET MY NAME BE NAMED ON THEM, and the NAME OF MY FATHERS Abraham and Isaac, and LET THEM GROW INTO A MULTITUDE IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH.']

The vast majority of the tribes of the children of Israel aligned them behind Joseph [Ephraim and Manasseh], because it was they to whom Israel bestowed in Genesis 48 God's ancient Promise to Abraham of NATIONAL GREATNESS and MATERIAL PROSPERITY... better known as the BIRTHRIGHT PROMISE. This alliance of Israel's tribes became known as... following their subsequent defeat by Assyria and scattering among the Gentile nations of the world... the "Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel."

The "nation" [or House, or Kingdom] of Israel NEVER RETURNED TO THEIR HOME LAND, the Land Promised them through their ancestor Abraham, following their captivity. They lost their "identity" as Abraham's children and to this day think of themselves as GENTILES.

God reveals in His Word that it's HIS SABBATHS [both WEEKLY, or the seventh day of the week which God calls the Sabbath day; as well as His ANNUAL Sabbaths called the FEASTS OF THE LORD - see Lev.23:2 & 44]

God tells man in His Word: "...'Verily MY SABBATHS YE SHALL KEEP: for IT IS A SIGN [a VISIBLE MARK or SIGN OF IDENTIFICATION TO THE WORLD] BETWEEN ME AND YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATIONS; that YE MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD that doth sanctify you [I am the One who sets you apart from all the other nations of the world]...'" (Ex.31:13).

"'IT IS A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOR EVER...'" (verse 17).

Before the captivity and scattering of the people of the House or Kingdom of Israel, Israel's King Hoshea STOPPED the people of his kingdom from OBSERVING AND KEEPING THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD, God's "identifying mark" [both the weekly and annual Sabbaths] and from following the instruction of the Levitical priesthood, the tribe of Levi whom God set aside as His sanctified priesthood; and thus initiated the House of Israel's LOSS OF IDENTITY AS ISRAELITES! King Hoshea refused to pay tribute to the king of Assyria whom the LORD had allowed to plague His unrepentant, sinning people:

"...in the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign, Samaria [the capital city of Israel's kingdom] fell, and the people were exiled to Assyria." (II Kings 17:6)

"This disaster came upon the nation of Israel BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WORSHIPED OTHER GODS, sinning against the LORD their God... They had IMITATED THE PRACTICES OF THE PAGAN NATIONS the LORD had DRIVEN FROM THE LAND BEFORE THEM, as well as the PRACTICES THE KINGS OF ISRAEL HAD INTRODUCED..." (verses 7-8).

Israel had lost their identity as "God's people" [rejecting the LORD's identifying Sabbaths] right there living in their own land long before they were exiled from it by Assyria. So, it couldn't have taken long for them to regard themselves as Gentiles in the succeeding generations.

But the biblically historical fact is that "the House of Israel never returned from their captivity and scattering among the Gentile nations." Their descendants migrated and mixed among the developing modern Gentile nations extant in the world today... not knowing who they are as a people. Yet, Jacob [Israel] prophesied of these "God-blessed" tribes of Joseph "...LET THEM GROW INTO A MULTITUDE IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH!"

The two SCATTERED "brother-nations" of the tribe of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were to inherit the MOST BLESSED PLACES ON EARTH that provide a nation with abundant prosperity, wealth, and power... to become the most powerful nations on earth. So, the question is: "in the history of the world, WHAT TWO BROTHER-NATIONS are extant in the world today who have SEEN SUCH prosperity, wealth and power between them? Here's a hint: Ephraim is prophesied to become a COMPANY, MULTITUDE OF NATIONS [see Gen.48:19]. Which can be translated a "COMMONWEALTH" nation!

And Ephraim's elder brother, Manasseh, was to become a SINGLE GREAT NATION [same verse]:

"...Manasseh, too, will become a GREAT PEOPLE, but his younger brother will become even greater, His descendants will become A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS!" (Gen.48:19)

Who but the two brother-nations of BRITAIN and AMERICA can possibly have fulfilled that prophecy. Two modern powerful nations whose collective family tree is a mass of scattered branches from among the nations of the world. Is it a coincidence that the name "British" is a combination of two Hebrew words - "brit" [covenant] and "ish" [man] which when combined mean COVENaNT MAN?

Is it a coincidence that when Jesus sent His disciples out into the world sent them to the LOST TEN TRIBES OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL and not to the Jews [the House or Kingdom of Judah, who had long return from their bout of captivity from ancient Babylon: who observed the LORD'S SABBATHS and KNEW AND INDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD, but were about to reject the Christ who was living and working their in their midst] or to the Gentiles:

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, 'Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans [Samaria was by then no longer ancient Israel's capital city, but a city of pagan Gentiles following Israel's captivity] enter ye not: but GO RATHER TO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL." (Matt.10:5-6)

The Jews, or House of Judah, never received God's promise to Abraham to become NATIONALLY GREAT or PROSPEROUS. Joseph received that part of God's promise. It was the JEWS to whom the promise of THE MESSIAH... the promise of SALVATION was given [Gen.49:8-11]... for "...Salvation is of the JEWS..." (John 4:22).

Is it a coincidence that the "nominally free" nations of the world are the European nations that profess the name of CHRIST in their religious motif [false or otherwise]?

Where were the two nations of God's people taken into captivity?

Israel was scattered AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD... their generation ultimately to reform into the modern nations today. Jesus sent His disciples to these lost people... and it's the nations and people in the world today who at least profess the name of Jesus, if not actually OBEY HIS WORD.

Britain and America have inherited the lion's share of God's national material blessings, hands down. Ancestry searching is a big business here and around the world, as the people of various nations seek to discover their heritage. And the various nations of Europe are, each one, descendants of one of the other scattered ten lost tribes who profess Jesus' name.

The Jews KNOW WHO THEY ARE, because they have kept the Sabbaths of the LORD [in name, if not in Spirit... since it is the Jews who rejected Jesus, the ONE who IS THE LORD Creator God OF THE Old Testament [see John 1:3]; the One who says that is was HE WHO IS THE LORD who MADE THE SABBATH on the seventh day of CREATION:

"...the Sabbath was made FOR MAN [not for the Jews], and not man for the Sabbath: therefore THE SON OF MAN [Jesus Christ] IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH." (Mark 2:27-28)

But the Jews have always KEPT THE LORD'S SABBATH and have KEPT THEIR IDENTITY as God's people. The Bible reveals in Revelation 12:9, that THE WHOLE WORLD IS DECEIVED by Satan the Devil regarding the Truth of God; and although the Jews through their staunch observance of the LORD's Sabbaths have retained their knowledge and understanding of their "identity" as part of Abraham's descendants -- they DON'T KNOW that their Satan-induced rejection of Christ has them keeping the LORD's Sabbaths IN VAIN. While at the same time, the nations of the equally deceived descendants of the House of Israel, still seeking an identity and thinking they are Gentiles and profess Jesus' name, REJECT the Bible-commanded Sabbaths of the LORD -- deceived by Satan into thinking that they are the SABBATHS OF THE JEWS! Instead of the LORD'S SABBATHS that the LORD Jesus when He returns to earth to establish the world-ruling Kingdom of God upon it, will COMMAND ALL NATIONS, REGARDLESS OF NATIONAL DESCENT TO KEEP THE LORD'S [not the Jew's] SABBATHS.

"And it shall be in that Day, that Living Waters[the LORD's Holy Spirit] shall go out from Jerusalem[the capital city and headquarters of Jesus' Kingdom; the seat of the "throne of David" -- "...and the LORD God {the Father] shall give unto Him THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID..." - Luke 1:32]... And THE LORD SHALL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH: in that Day shall there BE ONE LORD, and His Name One..." (Zech.14:8-9)

"And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of ALL THE NATIONS which came up against Jerusalem [the one major plaguing fear of all the nations of the world today] SHALL EVEN GO UP FROM YEAR TO YEAR [for the entire duration of Jesus' prophesied THOUSAND YEAR RULE ON THE EARTH] TO WORSHIP THE KING [can anyone begin to imagine all the nations of the earth collectively worshiping Jesus?], the LORD of Hosts, and to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES." (verse 16)

And what is the "Feast of Tabernacles?" It's that next-to-the-last ANNUAL FEAST OF THE LORD that IDENTIFIES WHO ARE HIS PEOPLE! The Feast of Tabernacles pictures CHRIST'S THOUSAND YEAR SABBATH DAY RULE that follows man's allotted "six-day, six thousand year week" of his errant rule on earth under the misguiding hand of Satan, man's chosen god. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the LORD's SEVENTH DAY, ONE THOUSAND YEAR-LONG SABBATH DAY. With the LAST GREAT DAY of God's Holy, Sacred annual feasts picturing JUDGMENT DAY... the EIGHTH day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

"...on the EIGHTH DAY shall be a holy convocation [a COMMANDED ASSEMBLY OF GOD'S PEOPLE] unto you... it is a SOLEMN ASSEMBLY. THESE ARE THE FEASTS OF THE LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be HOLY CONVOCATION [commanded assemblies]..." (Lev.23:36-37).

So, whether they are the scattered descendants of Israel or Judah [the Jews]... Satan's deception is complete in the world. The vast majority of the entire population of the earth remains essentially ignorant of God's revealed Truth, and they don't really know what's happening in the world... or what's coming upon all the nations on earth.

The two nations of God's people, Israel and Judah [the Jews], don't know that they are still in captivity, scattered among the nations of the world; with the deceived descendants of all twelve tribes thinking that they are Gentiles, existing today, themselves, as sovereign nations. They and the rest of the world remain the captives of their chosen god whom the two people God created in the beginning gave their obedience, which was passed on to all the future generations of man. The whole world is the captive of its own collective slumbering spirit, that's asleep to God's Truth, the Word of God, the Bible, that even most of those who profess Jesus' name REFUSE TO BELIEVE WHAT IT SAYS.

And although they don't know who they are... man's Creator, Jesus Christ [see again John 1:3] the CREATOR of DNA, knows who everyone is:

"I KNOW THAT YE ARE ABRAHAM'S SEED; but YE SEEK TO KILL ME, because MY WORD HAS NO PLACE IN YOU... you seek to kill Me, a man that hath TOLD YOU THE TRUTH... Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because YE CANNOT HEAR MY WORD. Ye are of your father THE DEVIL, and the lusts of your father ye will do... and because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, YE BELIEVE ME NOT." (John 8:37-45)

The entire world, including the deceived descendants of the "two scattered nations" of Israel and Judah, remains in captivity to its chosen god. Physically, they were originally taken to various locations around the world to finally end up wherever their reestablished nations reside today. But spiritually, they weren't taken anywhere, but were and still trapped within themselves, and are captives of their own, sometimes, self-imposed ignorance of the revealed Truth of man's Creator.