Can We Find the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel?

"Lost Ten Tribes" Series, Part 3 | Part 2 | Part 1

The last blog post on this topic proved that the northern ten tribes of Israel lost their identity because they forsook God, and subsequently became "the lost ten tribes of Israel." The question logically follows: “Can Israel be found?” The answer depends on whether God abandoned and destroyed Israel. Unfortunately, some do believe that God wholly forsook Israel and replaced her with a Gentile Church (hence the name “Israel-replacement theology”). This view is very misguided, as we'll soon see. We'll also see that God wants us to find the Lost Ten Tribes and has given us all the tools to do so!

Since God ceased His spiritual work through Israel and allowed her to go her own way, does that mean He abandoned her? No! Jeremiah the prophet declared, “Thus says the LORD: ‘If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD’” (Jer. 31:37). Again, “For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, the LORD of hosts, though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel” (Jer. 51:5). Finally, Jeremiah wrote, “Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, “The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off”? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them. Thus says the LORD: “If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them”’” (Jer. 33:23-26). Clearly, God didn’t abandon Israel despite all her sins; His love was unconditional!

What about God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of His servants? God had promised to make Israel numerous (Gen. 22:17, 26:4, 32:12) and powerful (Gen. 22:17, 28:14; Deut. 33:29), and had also promised great wealth to the house of Joseph (Gen. 49:25-26). Notice that God did not promise that He would make the Israelites numerous and powerful only if they served Him. Rather, God promised to bless the Israelites even though He knew they would not serve Him, just as He promised to make David’s descendants a royal house forever even though He knew they would not serve Him (2 Sam. 7:12-16). Just as God blessed David’s house only because David served Him, so He also blessed Israel only because Abraham served Him (Gen. 26:24). In addition, God told Abraham, “By Myself I have sworn… blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies” (Gen. 22:16-17). In swearing by Himself that He would bless Israel, God showed that fulfilling His promises depended, not upon the obedience of Israel, but only upon God Himself. Therefore, Israel’s sins didn’t cause God to repeal His promise to bless her more than any other people on earth. However, only God could decide when to give the Israelites those blessings.

Interestingly, God made many of the same promises to the Prophets that He made to the Patriarchs, even though Israel was steeped in sin at the time. In Hos. 1:9-10a we read, “Then God said, ‘...you are not My people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered.’”  The prophet Micah foretold that Israel would be powerful: “And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces and none can deliver. Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off” (Micah 5:8-9). Because the next five verses, 10-14, describe calamity coming upon Israel immediately after they hold such great power, this passage obviously doesn’t refer to Christ’s Millennial reign as some suppose. Instead, it means that at some point during earth’s physical history, the Israelites would be more powerful than any other nation on earth. God also promised through Ezekiel, “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Although I have cast them [the Israelites] far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone”’” (Ezek. 11:16).

Furthermore, God also promised that He will restore Israel. The Israelites of all ages will be resurrected (Ezek. 37:1-14). Afterwards all Israelites will be regathered in their own land (Is. 11:11-12, 27:12-13, 56:8; Jer. 31:8-10; Ezek. 11:17, 37:1-14). God will there reveal to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel their true identity, as Hos. 1:10b says: “And it shall come to pass, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’” Once regathered in their own land, the house of Judah and the house of Israel will be rejoined (Is. 11:13; Jer. 3:18; Ezek. 37:22; Hos. 1:11). Finally, God says, “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also shall know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My tabernacle is in their midst forevermore” (Ezek. 37:26-28). Does this really imply that God had utterly destroyed or forsaken Israel when He divorced her?

Clearly, God did not utterly forsake Israel, nor did He allow her to be destroyed by her enemies. God’s love for Israel was unconditional, even though He’d divorced her. God didn’t repeal His promises to the Patriarchs and the Prophets despite Israel’s sins, so He still intended to make Israel numerous and powerful. In addition, God will regather the Israelites and reveal to them their true identity. God’s Word is as clear as it can possibly be that Israel will never perish from the earth or be utterly destroyed by her enemies.

Since Israel wasn’t completely destroyed, is it possible to find the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel? God’s Word shows that Israel will be called to repentance: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Is. 58:1). Jesus Christ commanded His disciples to “go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). We know that Israel hasn’t repented yet because there’s no nation or ethnic group in the world that truly serves the God of Israel. Therefore, these commands pertain to the modern servants of God as much as they did to His ancient servants. Obviously, God’s servants cannot call the Israelites to repentance if they cannot find them! Since Israel must be found before she can be called to repentance, God’s servants will find Israel.

The Bible also contains many prophecies about not only the whole house of Israel, but also individual tribes. The Lost Ten Tribes must be found before these prophecies can be correctly interpreted, for one cannot understand a prophecy if one doesn’t know what nations and peoples it’s talking about. Because nearly all books of the Bible contain prophecies about Israel, vast portions of God’s Word cannot be understood by those who don’t know the identity of Israel. God certainly intended that prophecy be understood by His servants, or it would not be in the Bible. Therefore, God also intended that His true servants know the identity of Israel.

Israel can and will be found, but how? The Bible gives us some clues about the post-Captivity migrations of Israel. Jer. 3:12 speaks of the Israelites being somewhere north of the land of Judah, and also north of Israel’s own land, since they’d all been removed from their own land. Hos. 12:1 tells us Ephraim would pursue the east wind, that is, Ephraim would migrate to the west, because the east wind blows from the east toward the west. Concerning Israel’s post-Captivity settlements, Is. 49:12 says that God will regather Israel from the north and west, and land of Sinim; according to Jer. 16:15, 23:8, and 31:8, Israel will be gathered from the land of the north; Hos. 11:10 says that Israel will be brought from the west; and Zech. 8:7 shows that Israel will be brought from the west and the east. Many other verses assert that Israel will be brought from all around the world, but apparently end-time Israel will be located primarily in the north and west.

There are many other clues scattered throughout God's Word as well. In the coming posts, we'll take a look at all this evidence and see where the Lost Ten Tribes are today!

To be continued...