Ten Lost Tribes
The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been deported from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim. Claims of descent from the "lost tribes" have been proposed in relation to many groups, and some religions espouse a messianic view that the tribes will return.
In the 7th and 8th centuries CE, the return of the lost tribes was associated with the concept of the coming of the messiah.
The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that "the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated in numbers".
Historian Tudor Parfitt has declared that "the Lost Tribes are indeed nothing but a myth", and he writes that "this myth is a vital feature of colonial discourse throughout the long period of European overseas empires, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, until the later half of the twentieth".
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, a professor of Middle Eastern history, states: "The fascination with the tribes has generated, alongside ostensibly nonfictional scholarly studies, a massive body of fictional literature and folktale." Anthropologist Shalva Weil has documented various differing tribes and peoples claiming affiliation to the Lost Tribes throughout the world.
The twelve tribes
The scriptural basis for the idea of "10 Lost Tribes" is 2 Kings 17:6: "In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes." According to the Hebrew Bible, Jacob had 12 sons and at least one daughter by two wives and two concubines. The twelve sons fathered the twelve Tribes of Israel.- When the land of Israel was apportioned among the tribes in the days of Joshua, the Tribe of Levi, being chosen as priests, did not receive land. However, the tribe of Levi were given cities. Six cities were to be refuge cities for all men of Israel, which were to be controlled by the Levites. Three of these cities were located on each side of the Jordan River. In addition, 42 other cities, totaling 48 cities, were given to the Tribe of Levi.
- Jacob elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh to the status of full tribes in their own right, replacing the Tribe of Joseph. Each tribe received its own land and had its own encampment during the 40 years of wandering in the desert.
| Traditional division | Division according to apportionment of land in Israel |
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According to, members of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon "fled" to Judah during the reign of Asa of Judah. Whether these groups were absorbed into the population or remained distinct groups or returned to their tribal lands is not indicated.
In c. 732 BCE, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aramea and territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh in Gilead including the desert outposts of Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. People from these tribes, including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the Khabur River system in Assyria/Mesopotamia. Tiglath-Pilesar also captured the territory of Naphtali and the city of Janoah in Ephraim, and an Assyrian governor was placed over the region of Naphtali. According to and, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria.
Israel continued to exist within the reduced territory as an independent kingdom subject to Assyria until around 725–720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and the rest of the population deported. The Bible relates that the population of Israel was exiled, leaving only the Tribe of Judah, the Tribe of Simeon, the Tribe of Benjamin, and the people of the Tribe of Levi who lived among them of the original Israelite tribes in the southern Kingdom of Judah. However, Israel Finkelstein estimated that only a fifth of the population were actually resettled out of the area during the two deportation periods under Tiglath-Pileser III, Shalmaneser V and Sargon II. Many also fled south to Jerusalem, which appears to have expanded in size fivefold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of water to be provided by King Hezekiah. Furthermore, explicitly mentions northern Israelites who had been spared by the Assyrians—in particular, members of Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, and Zebulun—and how members of the latter three returned to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem at that time.
The Hebrew Bible does not use the phrase "ten lost tribes", leading some to question the number of tribes involved. states that the kingdom would be taken from Solomon and ten tribes given to Jeroboam:
Biblical apocrypha
According to Zvi Ben-Dor Benite:Centuries after their disappearance, the ten lost tribes sent an indirect but vital sign... In 2 Esdras, we read about the ten tribes and "their long journey through that region, which is called Arzareth"... The book of the "Vision of Ezra", or Esdras, was written in Hebrew or Aramaic by a Palestinian Jew sometime before the end of the first century CE, shortly after the destruction of the temple by the Romans. It is one of a group of texts later designated as the so-called Apocrypha—pseudoepigraphal books attached to but not included in the Hebrew biblical canon.
Religious beliefs
Judaism
There are discussions in the Talmud as to whether the ten lost tribes will eventually be reunited with the Tribe of Judah; that is, with the Jewish people. In the Talmud, the Sanhedrin equate the exile of the lost tribes with being morally and spiritually lost. In Tractate Sanhedrin 110B, Rabbi Eliezer states:Just like a day is followed by darkness, and the light later returns, so too, although it will become 'dark' for the ten tribes, God will ultimately take them out of their darkness.
In the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi Shimon ben Yehudah, of the town of Acco, states in the name of Rabbi Shimon:
If their deeds are as this day's, they will not return; otherwise they shall.
Christianity
The increased currency of tales relating to lost tribes that occurred in the 17th century was due to the confluence of several factors. According to Parfitt:As Michael Pollack shows, Menasseh's argument was based on "three separate and seemingly unrelated sources: a verse from the book of Isaiah, Matteo Ricci's discovery of an old Jewish community in the heart of China and Antonio Montezinos' reported encounter with members of the Lost Tribes in the wilds of South America".
In 1649 Menasseh ben Israel published his book, The Hope of Israel, in Spanish and in Latin in Amsterdam; it included Montezinos' account of the Lost Tribes in the New World. An English translation was published in London in 1650. In it Menasseh argued, and for the first time tried to give learned support in European thought and printing, to the theory that the native inhabitants of America at the time of the European discovery were actually descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel. Menasseh noted how important Montezinos' account was,
He wrote on 23 December 1649: "I think that the Ten Tribes live not only there... but also in other lands scattered everywhere; these never did come back to the Second Temple and they keep till this day still the Jewish Religion ..."
In 1655, Menasseh ben Israel petitioned Oliver Cromwell to allow the Jews to return to England in furtherance of the Messianic goal. With the approach of 1666, considered a significant date, Cromwell was allegedly interested in the return of the Jews to England because of the many theories circulating related to millennial thinking about the end of the world. Many of these ideas were fixed upon the year 1666 and the Fifth Monarchy Men who were looking for the return of Jesus as the Messiah; he was expected to establish a final kingdom to rule the physical world for a thousand years. Messianic believers supported Cromwell's Republic in the expectation that it was a preparation for the fifth monarchy—that is, the monarchy that should succeed the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman world empires.
Apocryphal accounts concerning the Lost Tribes, based to varying degrees on biblical accounts, have been produced by both Jews and Christians since at least the 17th century. An Ashkenazi Jewish tradition speaks of these tribes as Die Roite Yiddelech, "the little red Jews", who were cut off from the rest of Jewry by the legendary river Sambation, "whose foaming waters raise high up into the sky a wall of fire and smoke that is impossible to pass through."
Historians generally concluded that the groups which were referred to as the Lost Tribes merged with the local population. For instance, the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia states: "In historic fact, some members of the Ten Tribes remained in Palestine, where apart from the Samaritans some of their descendants long preserved their identity among the Jewish population, others were assimilated, while others were presumably absorbed by the last Judean exiles who in 597–586 BC were deported to Assyria ... Unlike the Judeans of the southern Kingdom, who survived a similar fate 135 years later, they soon assimilated ..."
Latter Day Saint movement
The Book of Mormon is based on the premise that two families of Israelites escaped from Israel shortly before the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, constructed a ship, sailed across the ocean, and arrived in the New World. They are among the ancestors of Native American tribes and the Polynesians. Adherents believe the two founding tribes were called Nephites and Lamanites, that the Nephites practiced Christianity, and that the Lamanites were rebellious. Eventually the Lamanites wiped out the Nephites around 400 AD, and they are among the ancestors of Native Americans. The descent of Native Americans from Israel is a key part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints's foundational beliefs. For example, Native American followers are almost always declared to be of the house of Manasseh when receiving Patriarchal Blessings, which purport to reveal ethnic lineage.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the literal gathering of Israel, and the Church actively preaches the gathering of people from the twelve tribes. "Today Israelites are found in all countries of the world. Many of these people do not know that they are descended from the ancient house of Israel," the church teaches in its basic Gospel Principles manual. "The Lord promised that His covenant people would someday be gathered.... God gathers His children through missionary work. As people come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, receiving the ordinances of salvation and keeping the associated covenants, they become 'the children of the covenant'."
The church also teaches that "The power and authority to direct the work of gathering the house of Israel was given to Joseph Smith by the prophet Moses, who appeared in 1836 in the Kirtland Temple. ... The Israelites are to be gathered spiritually first and then physically. They are gathered spiritually as they join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and make and keep sacred covenants. ... The physical gathering of Israel means that the covenant people will be 'gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise'. The tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh will be gathered in the Americas. The tribe of Judah will return to the city of Jerusalem and the area surrounding it. The ten lost tribes will receive from the tribe of Ephraim their promised blessings. ... The physical gathering of Israel will not be complete until the Second Coming of the Savior and on into the Millennium."
One of their main Articles of Faith, which was written by Joseph Smith, is as follows: "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory."
Regarding the Ezekiel 37 prophecy, the church teaches that the Book of Mormon is the stick of Ephraim mentioned and that the Bible is the stick of Judah, thus comprising two witnesses for Jesus Christ. The church believes the Book of Mormon to be a collection of records by prophets of the ancient Americas, written on plates of gold and translated by Joseph Smith c. 1830. The church considers the Book of Mormon one of the main tools for the spiritual gathering of Israel.
Search
The Ten Lost Tribes became, along with Prester John and El Dorado, an object for exploration and contact in the Age of Discovery and colonialism, until today when indigneous peoples in voluntary isolation are incorrectly called lost tribes.Ethnology and anthropology
Expanded exploration and study of groups throughout the world through archeology and the new field of anthropology in the late 19th century led to a revival or reworking of accounts of the Lost Tribes. For instance, because archeological finds of the Mississippian culture's complex earthwork mounds seemed beyond the skills of the Native American cultures known to European Americans at the time of their discovery, it was theorized that the ancient civilizations involved in the mounds' construction were linked to the Lost Tribes. They tried to fit new information into a biblical construct. However, the earthworks across North America have been conclusively linked to various Native groups, and the archaeologists now consider the theory of non-Native origin to be pseudo-science.Groups that claim descent from the tribes
Pakhtuns/Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan
There is a tradition among the Pashtuns of being descended from the exiled lost tribes of Israel. This tradition was referenced in 19th century western scholarship and was also incorporated in the "Lost Tribes" literature popular at the time.Recently, interest in the topic has been revived by Jerusalem anthropologist Shalva Weil, who was quoted in the popular press to the effect that "Taliban may be descended from Jews".
The traditions surrounding the Pashtuns being remote descendants of the "Lost Tribes of Israel" is to be distinguished from the historical Jewish community in eastern Afghanistan or northwest Pakistan which flourished from about the 7th to the early 20th century, but which has essentially disappeared due to emigration to Israel since the 1950s.
Mughal-era historiography
According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to Makhzan-e-Afghani, a history compiled for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 17th century.Modern findings
The Pashtuns are a predominantly Muslim Iranic people, native to Afghanistan and Pakistan, who adhere to an indigenous and pre-Islamic religious code of honor and culture, Pashtunwali. The belief that Pashtuns are descended from the lost tribes of Israel has never been substantiated by concrete historical evidence. Many members of the Taliban hail from the Pashtun tribes and they do not necessarily disclaim their alleged "Israelite" descent.The tribal name 'Yusef Zai' in Pashto translates as the "sons of Joseph".
A number of genetic studies refute the possibility of a connection, whereas others maintain a link.
In 2010, The Guardian reported that the Israeli government was planning to fund a genetic study in order to test the veracity of a genetic link between the Pashtuns and the lost tribes of Israel. The article stated that "Historical and anecdotal evidence strongly suggests a connection, but definitive scientific proof has never been found. Some leading Israeli anthropologists believe that, of all the many groups in the world which claim to have a connection to the 10 lost tribes, the Pashtuns, or Pathans, have the most compelling case."
Assyrian Jews
Some traditions of the Assyrian Jews hold that Israelites of the tribe of Benjamin first arrived in the area of modern Kurdistan after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC; they were subsequently relocated to the Assyrian capital. During the first century BC, the Assyrian royal house of Adiabene—which, according to Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, was ethnically Assyrian and whose capital was Erbil —was converted to Judaism. King Monobazes, his queen Helena, and his son and successor Izates are recorded as the first proselytes.Kashmiri Jews
The theory of Kashmiri descent from lost tribes of Israel was first suggested by Al-Biruni, the famous 11th-century Persian Muslim scholar. According to Al Biruni, "In former times the inhabitants of Kashmir used to allow one or two foreigners to enter their country, particularly Jews, but at present they do not allow any Hindus whom they do not know personally to enter, much less other people."François Bernier, a 17th-century French physician and Sir Francis Younghusband, who explored this region in the 1800s, commented on the similar physiognomy between Kashmiris and Jews, including "fair skin, prominent noses," and similar head shapes.
Baikunth Nath Sharga argues that, despite the etymological similarities between Kashmiri and Jewish surnames, the Kashmiri Pandits are of Indo-Aryan descent while the Jews are of Semitic descent.
Bene Israel
After learning about normative Judaism in the 19th century, a group of Jews of India; called the Bene Israel often migrated from villages in Konkan to nearby cities, which included Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Karachi. Based on Bene Israel tradition, after centuries of traveling through Western Asia from Israel, their ancestors migrated to India and slowly assimilated into the surrounding community, while maintaining particular Jewish traditions. David Rahabi, an Indian Jew, found the Bene Israel in the 18th century and took note of their Jewish customs. Some historians note that the ancestors of the Bene Israel belonged to one of the Lost Tribes of Israel; however, Jewish authorities have not officially recognized the Bene Israel as one of the Lost Tribes. In 1964 the Israeli Rabbinate ruled that the Bene Israel are "full Jews in every respect".The Report of the High Level Commission on the Indian Diaspora reviewed life in Israel for the Bene Israel community. It noted that the city of Beersheba in Southern Israel has the largest community of Bene Israel, with a sizable one in Ramla. They have a new kind of transnational family. Generally the Bene Israel have not been politically active and have had modest means. They have not formed continuing economic connections to India and have limited political status in Israel. Jews of Indian origin are generally regarded as Sephardic; they have become well integrated religiously with the Sephardhim community in Israel.
Cochin Jews
are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now part of the state of Kerala. As early as the 12th century, mention is made of the Jews in southern India. The Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, speaking of Kollam on the Malabar Coast, writes in his Itinerary: "...throughout the island, including all the towns thereof, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, and the Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the law of Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud and Halacha." These people later became known as the Malabari Jews. They built synagogues in Kerala beginning in the 12th and 13th centuries. They are known to have developed Judeo-Malayalam, a dialect of Malayalam language.Bnei Menashe
Since the late 20th century, some tribes in the Indian North-Eastern states of Mizoram and Manipur have been claiming that they are Lost Israelites and they have also been studying Hebrew and Judaism. The chief rabbi of Israel ruled in 2005 that the Bnei Menashe was recognized as part of a lost tribe, allowing aliyah after formal conversion.Beta Israel of Ethiopia
The Beta Israel are Ethiopian Jews, who were also called "Falashas" in the past. Some members of the Beta Israel, as well as several Jewish scholars, believe that they are descended from the lost Tribe of Dan, as opposed to the traditional story of their descent from the Queen of Sheba. They have a tradition of being connected to Jerusalem. Early DNA studies showed that they were descended from Ethiopians, but in the 21st century, new studies have shown their possible descent from a few Jews who lived in either the 4th or 5th century, possibly in Sudan. The Beta Israel made contact with other Jewish communities in the later 20th century. In 1973 Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, then the Chief Sephardic Rabbi, based on the Radbaz and other accounts, ruled that the Beta Israel were Jews and should be brought to Israel; two years later that opinion was confirmed by a number of other authorities who made similar rulings, including the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Shlomo Goren.Igbo Jews
The Igbo Jews of Nigeria variously claim descent from the tribes of Ephraim, Naphtali, Menasseh, Levi, Zebulun and Gad. The theory, however, does not hold up to historical scrutiny. Historians have examined the historical literature on West Africa from the colonial era and they have elucidated diverse functions that such theories served for the writers who proposed them.Sefwi Tribe in Ghana
The Sefwi tribe in Ghana has a history of following some Judaic practices, including the observation of the Sabbath, the circumcision of baby boys when they turn eight days old, a rite of manhood for boys when they turn 13 years old, the observation of family purity laws. In 1977 a member of the tribe, Aaron Ahotre Toakyirafa had a vision that he was Jewish and descended from a lost tribe of Israel. Some scholars believe these Jewish customs were most likely brought to Ghana by Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and migrated south from Morocco. The community became known as the "House of Israel".Kaifeng Jews
The Kaifeng Jews are members of a small Jewish community in Kaifeng, in the Henan province of China, whose members had largely assimilated into Chinese society due to centuries of cultural suppression and intermarriage, while preserving some Jewish traditions and customs. Their origin and time of arrival in Kaifeng are a matter of debate among experts.Speculation regarding other ethnic groups
There has been speculation regarding various ethnic groups, which would be regarded as fringe theories.Japanese
Some writers have speculated that the Japanese people may be the direct descendants of some of the Ten Lost Tribes. Parfitt writes that "the spread of the fantasy of Israelite origin... forms a consistent feature of the Western colonial enterprise. ... It is in fact in Japan that we can trace the most remarkable evolution in the Pacific of an imagined Judaic past. As elsewhere in the world, the theory that aspects of the country were to be explained via an Israelite model was introduced by Western agents."In 1878, Scottish immigrant to Japan Nicholas McLeod self-published Epitome of the Ancient History of Japan.
McLeod drew correlations between his observations of Japan and the fulfillment of biblical prophecy: The civilized race of the Aa. Inus,[sic: read Ainus] the Tokugawa and the Machi No Hito of the large towns, by dwelling in the tent or tabernacle shaped houses first erected by Jin Mu Tenno, have fulfilled Noah's prophecy regarding Japhet, "He shall dwell in the tents of Shem."
Jon Entine emphasizes the fact that DNA evidence shows that there are no genetic links between Japanese and Israelite people.
Lemba
The Lemba people from Southern Africa claim to be the descendants of several Jewish men who traveled from what is now Yemen to Africa in search of gold, where they took wives and established new communities. They specifically adhere to religious practices which are similar to those in Judaism and have a tradition of being a migrant people, with clues that point to an origin in either West Asia or North Africa. According to the oral history of the Lemba, their ancestors were Jews who came from a place called Sena several hundred years ago and settled in East Africa. Sena is an abandoned ancient town in Yemen, located in the eastern Hadramaut valley, which history indicates Jews inhabited in past centuries. Some research suggests that "Sena" may refer to Wadi Masilah in Yemen, often called Sena, or alternatively to the city of Sana'a, which is also located in Yemen.Māori
Some early Christian missionaries to New Zealand speculated that the native Maori were descendants of the Lost Tribes. Some Māori later embraced this belief.Native Americans
In 1650, a British minister named Thomas Thorowgood, who was a preacher in Norfolk, published a book entitled Jewes in America or Probabilities that the Americans are of that Race, which he had prepared for the New England missionary society. Parfitt writes of this work: "The society was active in trying to convert the Indians but suspected that they might be Jews and realized that it had better be prepared for an arduous task. Thorowgood's tract argued that the native populations of North America were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes."In 1652 Hamon L'Estrange, an English author writing on topics such as history and theology published an exegetical tract called Americans no Jews, or improbabilities that the Americans are of that Race in response to the tract by Thorowgood. In response to L'Estrange, Thorowgood published a second edition of his book in 1660 with a revised title and included a foreword written by John Eliot, a Puritan missionary to the Indians who had translated the Bible into an Indian language.
American diplomat and journalist Mordecai Manuel Noah proposed the idea in his publication The American Indians Being the Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
That some or all American Indians are part of the lost tribes is suggested by the Book of Mormon and is a popular belief among Latter-day Saints.
Scythian/Cimmerian theories and British Israelism
Adherents of British Israelism and Christian Identity both believe that the lost tribes migrated northward, over the Caucasus, and became the Scythians, Cimmerians and Goths, as well as the progenitors of the later Germanic invaders of Britain.The theory first arose in England, from whence it spread to the United States. During the 20th century, British Israelism was promoted by Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God.
Tudor Parfitt, author of The Lost Tribes: The History of a Myth, states that the proof cited by adherents of British Israelism is "of a feeble composition even by the low standards of the genre", and these notions are widely rejected by historians.