WERE THE 12 TRIBES OF ISRAEL LOST?

Following the death of Solomon, King of Israel, around 930 B.C. the nation split into two nations: Israel (sometimes called Ephraim) in the north and Judah in the south. In 721 B.C. the northern kingdom was invaded by the Assyrians leading to the deportation of nearly 30,000 of its citizens.

Occasionally a religious leader with resurrect an old theory that claims that these Israelites migrated northward and westward, crossing Europe and eventually settling in England and the United States. The tribes, they claim,were “lost.” One such teacher was Herbert W. Armstrong. In his booklet, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, he wrote, “The prophecies of the Bible have been grievously misunderstood. And no wonder! For the vital KEY needed to unlock prophetic doors to understanding, had become lost. That KEY is a definite knowledge of the true identity of the American and British peoples in biblical prophecy.” According to Armstrong, the true identity of the United States and Britain is that we are modern day Israel. 

God did not reveal to Herbert W. Armstrong this so-called key to understanding biblical prophecy. An earlier author, J.H. Allen, taught the same idea in his book published in 1917 entitled, Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright.

The Lost Tribes of Israel have not been found in the United States and Britain because they were never lost in the first place. So what happened to the tribes of Israel after the Assyrian invasion in 721 A.D.?

Only a small portion of the people of Israel were taken into captivity to Assyria. Only higher ranking Israelites were deported from Israel and many Israelites remained. Seven hundred years after the invasion the Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote that they still remained beyond the Euphrates in mass numbers. But, many moved south to the kingdom of Judah. The kingdom and nation of Israel passed from existence, but the tribes, the people themselves, were never lost. 

We know this because the Israelites are mentioned in both the Old Testament and New Testament after the Assyrian invasion.



In 2 Chronicles 30:6, we find King Hezekiah of Judah, the southern kingdom, preparing to celebrate the Passover. At the king’s command, couriers went through out Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read: “People of Israel,return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. In verse 18 it says that many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun came to Jerusalem. These people were not in Assyria. Only a small proportion of Israelites were taken captive to Assyria.

Many of the northern kingdom moved to the southern kingdom of Judah and went into captivity to Babylon 120 years.

In 1 Chronicles 9:1-3 it says that it was not only the southern kingdom of Judah that went into captivity to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness, but members of the northern tribes (Israel),as well.

In 2 Chronicles 34:9 we find the people of Ephraim and Manasseh (two northern tribes) contributing to the rebuilding of the Temple by Josiah. This took place in 628 B.C., nearly one hundred years after the invasion of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians.

After the seventy-years of Babylonian Captivity the people returned to Jerusalem. The people who returned are called Jews eight times and Israel fifty times in the book of Ezra. Ezra 6:17 says, “And offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks . . . and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats . . .” 

You see, distinction between the terms "Jews" and Israelites" was lost over time. The Apostle Paul is referred to as both a Jew (Acts 21:39) and an Israelite (2 Cor 11:22) and he addressed the Hebrews as both "Men of Judea" and "Fellow Israelites" (Acts 2:14,22).

Also, note that the book of James was sent to "the twelve tribes scattered among the nations" (James 1:1). 

So the Twelve Tribes of Israel were not "lost" and then found to be modern day United States and British Commonwealth, as some claim.