The Lost Ten Tribes and the Return of
Messiah
Rabbi Yehudah ben Shomeyr
I believe the return of Messiah Yeshua is inextricably linked
to the identification, location and return of the lost ten tribes of Israel. Christendom
seems to focus on the world and its governments and nations going to hell in a hand
basket, morally and economically as “THE” signs of Messiah’s eminent return, as
well as the abundance and frequencies of natural disasters and warfare; often
quoting Matthew 24. This morbid obsession with Armageddon causes them to fail
to see who is at the center and focus of His return and that is Israel and all
who connect themselves to her through following her God and the Word of her
God. Yes, these things mentioned above are prerequisites that must happen for
Messiah to return, but so is the identification, location and return of the lost
ten tribes of Israel. After all who is Messiah returning for? ISRAEL, physical descendants of Abraham and his
12 sons as well as all who have joined themselves to them by following their
God and His Words.
After all, it was Israel and the mixed multitude (Jew/Hebrew
and Gentile) that mutually accepted the YHWH and His Torah (Laws/Instructions)
at what Judaism calls the marriage of God and Israel at Mount Sinai.
Exd. 12:38 And a mixed multitude
went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, [even] very much cattle.
Rabbis believe at least one gentile from all 70 nations went
out of Egypt with Israel during the Exodus.
Exd. 19:7-8 And Moses came and called for the elders of the
people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded
him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD
hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the
LORD.
Verse 8 says, “all the people” which included the mixed
multitude that came out of Egypt with Israel, all accepted God’s Law. So,
though Israel is the primary recipients and caretakers of Torah, the Law was
also given to and equally applies to the Gentiles.
Thus being said we can assuredly say that a Jew is from
Judah and a Hebrew or Israelite is from the other 10 tribes as well as gentiles
who believe and accept Israel’s God and His Laws is the Bride that Messiah will
return for when He comes again. Messiah is not going to return for a partial
bride, an incomplete bride or half of a bride, no, He is returning for a whole
and complete bride; meaning all 12 tribes must be located and identified.
We know that Israel, after Solomon, was split in to two
nations, Judah in the south and Israel sometimes called Ephraim in the north. Judah
was taken off into Babylonian captivity and only a portion eventually returned
to the Land of Israel while others stayed in Babylon. The Northern Kingdom of
Israel was carted off into Assyrian captivity and has never returned and has
been “lost,” to man but not to God. This means that there are people scattered
all over the world who are Hebrew or Israelite and don’t even know it because
in the millennia of captivity they have been scattered and assimilated into the
various ethnicities of the world and have lost their Identity as Israelites.
“According to Eliezer Shulman in his book “The Sequence of
Events in the Old Testament”, Avraham was born in the year 1948 from creation
(aprox. 2050 BCE). His son of promise Yitzchak, (Isaac) was born one hundred
years later in 2048 from creation (aprox. 1950 BCE). This places the birth of
Yitzchak some 3950 years from the present time. Using 25 years as a generation
means that today we are 158 generations removed from Avraham. Using 40 years
per generation, still removes us nearly 100 generations.
The number of ancestors for any single person increases
exponentially with each generation (two parents, four grandparents, eight great
grandparents, etc.). Going back only 40 generations yields a potential of over
one trillion direct ancestors for a single individual. This number far exceeds
the total number of people who ever lived on earth since the beginning of time.
With such immense numbers involved, it should be no surprise that we are all
more closely related than might have been imagined.
Avraham lived nearly four thousand years ago. Surely, if
this statistical model is anywhere near correct, every person on earth could
conceivably be descended from him, just as Nivrecu Theory suggests. Equally
possible is the theory that every person on earth could be descended from the
twelve sons of Ya’acov, the progenitors of the children of Israel.” – Hebrew
Roots Issue 02-2 pg. 20
It was sometime after the 1st century that we
lost touch with who the 10 Israeli tribes were because Yeshua’s brother Ya’akov
(James) addresses his letter to the 12 tribes scattered abroad (1:1)
Consider the words of Jeremiah regarding the end days and
the finding of the lost tribes:
Jer. 16:14-17 Therefore,
behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth,
that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But,
The Lord
liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and
from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into
their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I
will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after
will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and
from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For mine eyes are
upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity
hid from mine eyes.
This, “lands of the north” is anywhere above Israel and can
thus include North America, Europe and Scandinavia. And “and from
all the lands whither he had driven them” could mean anywhere on the globe.
So close to the end of days and close to
Messiah’s return, hence today, Jeremiah tells us people will be hunting and
fishing for these tribes.
To be sure much speculation has been made on
who the lost 10 tribes really are and much in depth and scholarly research must
be done to positively identify these 10 tribes but already some lost tribes
have been identified and accepted by the Israeli government and other peoples
are being able to trace their beginnings back to one of the sons of Jacob. So
slowly but surely the lost ten tribes are being found, setting the stage for Messiah’s
return for His Bride.
Isaiah 11 has been attributed to being a Messianic prophecy
of Messiah Yeshua Himself and indeed I wholeheartedly believe that this is
true, but within Isaiah 11 is another prophecy ignored or skipped over by theologians
and Bible scholars, and that is the prophecy of the return of the tribes from
exile.
Isa.
11: 10-16
10 And
in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of
the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his
hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be
left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from
Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble
the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the
four corners of the earth.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of
Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward
the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand
upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And the Lord
shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind
shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven
streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which
shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came
up out of the land of Egypt.
Verse 11 speaks of those lost in Assyrian captivity; Pathros
is considered to be Upper Egypt while Cush is Sudan and Ethiopia. Elam and
Shinar are modern day Iraq. Hamath encompasses Turkey, Lebanon and Syria. Then
we have The islands of the sea which surround some of these places or could
even hint of the Caribbean Islands where some African slaves who had cultures
uncannily similar to Israel, where dumped off on the way to the auction blocks
in the Americas.
Verses 12-13 names Israel and Ephraim which indicate the 10
Israeli tribes and we see Judah is mentioned too, possibly referring to the
Judeans who remained in Babylon after the others returned to Jerusalem from the
exile as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah.
Now who is the one who will rally, rouse and wake these lost
tribes to their true Identity? Messiah Yeshua (v.10)! And this has been done
and is being done through world evangelism and missions’ work of Christians and
Messianics.
Isaiah chapter 12 is a hymn or psalm of praise that the lost
tribes will sing when they are found and return to the Promised Land of Israel.
Let’s look at Isaiah 14:1-2:
For the Lord
will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own
land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the
house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and
bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the
land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives,
whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Notice how this is specifically referring to the lost ten
tribes. Phrases like, “House of Jacob,” “House of Israel,” are mentioned but
not Judah. Take note as well that the ambiguous nature of their locals prior to
their return to the Land of Israel proper opens the possibilities for the 10
tribes to be scattered is such places as North and South America, Europe and
Scandinavia where many believe many of these lost tribes will be found.
Now take the Parable of the Prodigal son:
11 And
he said, A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the
portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and
took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with
riotous living.
14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that
land; and he began to be in want.
15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and
he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the
swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of
my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy
hired servants.
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great
way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck,
and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe,
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and
be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh
to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things
meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath
killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father
out, and entreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I
serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou
never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy
living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I
have is thine.
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy
brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Many Evangelicals will say this is a parable about personal redemption
and salvation, but totally fail to see that Messiah was speaking of the
salvation and redemption of Israel as a whole. The Father represents God. The
Older Son is Judah who even in Babylonian captivity maintained their Identity
as Jews and even in Captivity cultivated much of the Rabbinic literature Rabbis
read and use today. The Younger (Prodigal) Son represents the ten tribes of
Israel who was taken off into Assyrian Captivity and eventually lost their
Identity. We see one day the Prodigal Son wakes up in a pig sty, which is
symbolic of being in the unclean gentile nations in captivity and decides to
return home. Just like today, the lost ten tribes of Israel that are scattered
all over the globe are waking up to who they really are and want to come home.
The Father is there with open arms wanting through a party while Judah the
Older Brother is jealous and questioning the Father’s acceptance of his wayward
long lost brother. And today, Judah scrutinizes and even rejects authentic,
documented, provable claims of certain lost tribes that have been found such as
the Igbo people of Nigeria who can prove they come from the lost tribe of Gad
and his sons Eri, Areli and Arodi (Gen. 46:16).
So we see, that we, as we look for the return of Messiah
should not engage our entire eschatological focus on the gloom and doom of the
end. We should keep our eyes on these things and act accordingly, as one would
seek shelter from a tornado when they spot a funnel cloud. But out eschatological
attention should be equally focused on Israel. Not necessarily the Land, but more
specifically the People, Jew (Judah) and Hebrew Israelite (Israel/Lost 10
Tribes) as well.
