Why are ten of the original tribes of Israel called the lost tribes?

Answer 1

During the first three centuries of the first millennium BCE, there were two Hebrew kingdoms in the Promised Land - Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The Bible says that ten of the twelve tribes occupied the territory of Israel and two tribes occupied Judah. When the Assyrians overran Israel in 722 BCE, they deported many of the Israelites, bringing in people from other conquered lands to occupy what was now to be the Assyrian province of Samaria.

The deported Israelites gradually assimilated into the cultures that surrounded them, adopted new religious beliefs and lost their ethnic identity. These are the "ten lost tribes" of Israel.

Answer:When they were carried into captivity (traditional date: 555 BCE), the Ten Tribes were brought at first to Assyria, but later spread further afield. Fanciful notions which were put forth centuries ago (such as identifying the Ten Tribes with the Native Americans, Irish or Japanese) may be ignored. Less unreasonable are reports linking the Ten Tribes with groups in Afghanistan or the Arabian peninsula (for example). But these remain moot until the Future Redemption and are not dwelt upon in Judaism today.

It should be noted that we Jews, descendants of Judah, do possess among us small percentages of every one of the other eleven Tribes, since there was a slight amount of intermingling before the two Kingdoms separated. See for example the Talmud, Pesachim 4a.

Answer 2

According to biblical tradition, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah, while the other ten tribes lived in the northern kingdom, Israel.

When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 BCE, it became the Assyrian province of Samaria. The Assyrians deported many of the Israelites and repopulated the province with captives from other areas. The Israelites gradually became assimilated into the culture of their new land, learnt the new religion and ceased to be identified as Israelites. Thus, the Jews came to regard the former Israelites as the "ten lost tribes".

So what remains today?

The Tribes of Israel today are the Jewish people. The great majority of Jews today, some 80% or so, are descended from the tribe of Judah (plus converts and descendants of converts). The remaining 20% include Levites (from the tribe of Levi), Cohanim (also a part of the Levites), the entire Tribe of Benjamin, and a small percentage from every one of the remaining tribes. (When the Ten Tribes were carried off into Assyria and didn't return, some of them had already mixed into the tribe of Judah before that, through marriage and through large-scale migration [e.g. 2 Chronicles 15:9]. Also, the Talmud relates [Megillah 14b] that, one century after the Ten Tribes were exiled [and their location was still known], Jeremiah journeyed to where they were and brought some of them back to Judea. Thus, today's Jewry includes a small percentage of every one of the Lost Tribes. [See for example the Talmud, Pesachim 4a.])
As to the location of the bulk of the lost Ten Tribes, because of the lack of a continuous tradition in this particular matter, we can only speculate. Some well-known claims, such as the suggestion that the Native Americans or African Americans are the Lost Israelite Tribes, we can confidently dismiss offhand; and DNA analyses have also debunked such ideas. Other claims, such as that which has been suggested concerning the Pathani (Pashtun), are less far-fetched but must for the time being remain nothing more than a guess.

Answer 3

A:The fabled ten tribes are a reference to the northern Hebrew kingdom of Israel, which was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. The Israelites should not really be thought of as consisting of distinct tribes, as a tribal system breaks down with the emergence of cities, and Israel had become significantly urbanised centuries earlier.

As was their practice, the Assyrians removed much of the population of the capital city of Samaria and other centres and transferred them to other parts of the empire, where they gradually merged into the local population and adopted the local culture and religion. Others of the Israelites fled south into neighbouring Judah and to Egypt. A significant Israelite population remained behind and was augmented by an influx of people from other parts of the Assyrian Empire, together becoming the forerunners of the Samarians or Samaritans.

In summary, some of the "ten lost tribes" merged into foreign populations in what are now Iraq and Syria, some merged into the Jewish population and some became, along with a large number of immigrants, the ancestors of the Samaritans of New Testament fame.

Answer:Because the border was closed between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, the Ten Tribes remained largely distinct from the other two (Judah and Benjamin).

When they were carried into captivity (traditional date: 555 BCE), the Ten Tribes were brought at first to Assyria, but later spread further afield. Fanciful notions which were put forth centuries ago (such as identifying the Ten Tribes with the Native Americans, Irish or Japanese) may be ignored. Less unreasonable are reports linking the Ten Tribes with groups in Afghanistan or the Arabian peninsula (for example). But these remain moot until the Future Redemption and are not dwelt upon in Judaism today.

It should be noted that we Jews, descendants of Judah, do possess among us small percentages of every one of the twelve Tribes, since there was a slight amount of mixing before the two Kingdoms separated. See for example the Talmud, Pesachim 4a.

Answer 4

During most of the First Temple era, the twelvetribes of Israel were divided into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Judah had two tribes, while Israel had ten. The ten tribes of Israel were exiled to points unknown, by the Assyrians, and are now lost to us. The two tribes of Judah, however, constitute the majority of the Jewish people today, with the addition of the Levites and a small number of each of the ten lost Israelite tribes (who had joined Judah before their exile).