{"id":64265,"date":"2019-10-12T23:33:52","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T20:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64265"},"modified":"2023-05-05T16:53:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:53:35","slug":"the-ten-lost-tribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-ten-lost-tribes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ten Lost Tribes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our chapter includes the tragic exile of the ten northern tribes of Israel to Assyria in the mid-8<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE: \u201c\u2026So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day\u201d (II Kings 17:23, see also I Chronicles 5:26).<\/span><\/p>\n

The specific notice that the Israelite tribes were exiled to Assyria \u201cunto this day\u201d led to the development of the wide-spread legend of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE Jewish historian, Josephus, (Jewish Antiquities Book XI.133) states as a fact that “the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers”. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:3, cf. Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 110b) records a difference of opinion between Rabbi Akiba who contends that the Ten Tribes shall not return again, and Rabbi Eliezer who says: Just as the day grows dark but then becomes light again, so too the Ten Tribes \u201cgrew dark\u201d (i.e. were exiled), but will \u201cgrow light again\u201d (i.e. will return and have a place in the world to come). According to a number of Midrashic sources (Genesis Rabbah 73:6 and parallels) the Ten Tribes were exiled to beyond the legendary river Sambatyon, beyond the darkness. But they shall be gathered and come to Jerusalem in the end of Days (Tanhuma Buber Shelah, Addition 6).<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the Middle Ages, reports of contacts with the Ten Lost Tribes continued to proliferate. In the 9th century, the Jewish traveler, Eldad ha-Dani, claimed not only to be a member of the tribe of Dan, but that he had communicated with four of the ten tribes. The 12th century Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela, preserves a long description of the Ten Tribes.\u00a0 According to him the Jews of Persia stated that in the town of Nishapur dwelt the four tribes of Dan, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, who were then governed \u201cby their own prince, Rabbi Joseph Amarkala the Levite\u201d. In the early 16<\/span>th<\/span> century, the Jewish adventurer, David Reuveni, claimed to be the brother of Joseph, the king of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh who were settled in Khaybar in Arabia, which was identified with Habor, mentioned in II Kings 17:6.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 17<\/span>th<\/span> century, Rabbi Manasseh ben Israel of Amsterdam, in his book Mikve Israel (Hope of Israel, London, 1652) cites reports of South American Indian tribes, practicing some Jewish rituals, who allegedly were descendants of the tribes of Reuben and Levi. He employed this legend in pleading successfully for the readmission of Jews into England during Oliver Cromwell\u2019s regime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the 17<\/span>th<\/span> century, various scholars have asserted that the American Indians are the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Most particularly, Mordecai M. Noah, the most influential Jew in 19<\/span>th<\/span> century America, an ardent utopian and Zionist, wrote an entire book on this subject \u201cDiscourse on the Evidences of the American Indians being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel\u201d (1837).<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Aaron Ben Hayyim, Grodno, 1836, Map of The Tribes of Israel \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64266,"id":64266,"title":"2kings17-tribes","filename":"2kings17-tribes.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-ten-lost-tribes\/2kings17-tribes\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings17-tribes","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64265,"date":"2019-10-12 20:33:39","modified":"2019-10-12 20:33:47","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":521,"height":514,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes-300x296.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":296,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","medium_large-width":521,"medium_large-height":514,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","large-width":521,"large-height":514,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","1536x1536-width":521,"1536x1536-height":514,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","2048x2048-width":521,"2048x2048-height":514,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes.jpg","post_full_size-width":521,"post_full_size-height":514,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-tribes-426x420.jpg","home_baner-width":426,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Ten Lost Tribes","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Legend - 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