The Ten Tribes Of Israel

Tudor Parfitt examines a myth which is based on one of the world's oldest mysteries - what happened to the lost tribes of Israel? Christians and Jews alike have attached great importance to the legendary fate of these tribes which has had a remarkable impact on their ideologies throughout history. Each tribe of Israel claimed descent from one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the land of Israel was eventually divided up between them. Following a schism which formed after the death of Solomon, ten of the tribes set up an independent northern kingdom, whilst those of Judah and Levi set up a separate southern kingdom. In 721BC the ten northern tribes were ethnically cleansed by the Assyrians and the Bible states they were placed: in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the city of Medes. The Bible also foretold that one day they would be reunited with the southern tribes in the final redemption of the people of Israel. Their subsequent history became a tapestry of legend and hearsay. The belief persisted that they had been lost in some remote part of the world and there were countless suggestions and claims as to where.

There have been many legends and traditions regarding the ten lost tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This book draws upon extensive discoveries and information published regarding the movement of the People of Israel and Judah from Davidic times to the dawn of the Hellenistic period. The author has tested the biblical records against archaeological evidence, testimony and inscriptions found in Syria, Assyria, Babylon and Persia. In very many cases, the inscriptions excavated in these places coincide almost word for word with the biblical record. The early chapters also investigate evidence of migrations and movement by people to neighbouring countries by reason of seeking sanctuary, trade, marriage or in times of famine. Evidence has been found supporting the theory that many of the Northern Captives joined the tribes of the South who continued to live independently until the destruction of the First Temple. Hence it is not just a matter of investigating the transfer of captives out of Judah and the Northern Kingdom but also additional evidence found in the Bible or documents that bear evidence to Jewish people who lived, traded or served in various capacities in other lands. There is also some clear indication that many of the later captives joined their brethren who had been exiled to other lands earlier. The later chapters mention some traditions and legends that exist among many tribes that to this day trace their origins to the Exiles who belonged to the twelve tribes of Israel and Judah.

"Interesting cases of searches in far-off lands, as well as astonishing notions that the tribes were actually to be part of the population of Europe and America, are told in the book. A wide selection of old and new illustrations enlivens the text."--BOOK JACKET.

In The Ten Lost Tribes, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite shows for the first time the extent to which the search for the lost tribes of Israel became, over two millennia, an engine for global exploration and a key mechanism for understanding the world.

*Includes pictures *Includes Biblical passages and Assyrian accounts of the deportation of the Israelites *Includes a bibliography for further reading "I counted as spoil 27,280 people, together with their chariots, and gods, in whom they trusted. I formed a unit with 200 of [their] chariots for my royal force. I settled the rest of them in the midst of Assyria. I repopulated Samaria more than before. I brought into it people from countries conquered by my hands. I appointed my commissioner as governor over them, and I counted them as Assyrians." - Sargon II, Assyrian king In the 8th century BCE, one of the most important provinces within the Assyrian Empire was Samaria. Also known as Israel, Samaria repeatedly rebelled against their Assyrian overlords, but in 722, the Assyrians overran Samaria once and for all, killing countless numbers and sending most of the rest of its inhabitants into forced exile. The events of Samaria's fall were chronicled in the Assyrian annals from the reign of Sargon II and the Old Testament, and although the two sources present the event from different perspectives, they corroborate each other for the most part and together present a reliable account of the situation. The end result was that 30,000 Israelites were forcibly deported from the region, a tactic the Assyrians found so effective that they would continue to use it against other conquered enemies until the fall of their own empire. The Assyrians' forced exile of the Israelites was not the only time such a fate had befallen them, as made clear by Babylonian accounts and the Biblical account of the Exodus out of Egypt, but it was that exile that permanently scattered most of the legendary 12 tribes of Israel, and the fate of the 10 lost tribes has interested people ever since. The patriarchal stories in Genesis explain the following about the origin of the tribes of Israel. The patriarch Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel (Gen 32:28), was himself the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. He had 12 sons who are the eponymous ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. Genesis lists the 12 sons according to their mothers. Jacob had five sons with his first wife: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, and Issachar. Leah's maid, Zilpah, bore another two sons to Jacob: Gad and Asher. His second wife, Rachel, also bore only two sons: Joseph and Benjamin; as did her maid, Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. The simple version of the Ten Lost Tribes is that modern Jewish communities are composed of the descendants of two of these 12 tribes because Cyrus the Great allowed these tribes to return to Judah from their captivity in Babylon. However, the location and fate of the remaining 10 tribes, deported by the Assyrians from the northern kingdom of Israel two centuries earlier, remains a mystery, and it is this mystery that lies at the heart of the search for the Ten Lost Tribes. The Ten Lost Tribes looks at what is known and unknown about the missing tribes of Israel, and speculation as to their fate. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Lost Tribes of Israel like never before, in no time at all.

Most of the Jewish nation was lost thousands of years ago. No trace of them has ever been discovered. In this startling book, a close examination of Japanese traditions suggests the possibility that the Japanese are the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.