The Lost 10 Tribes of Israel

I was searching for commentary on Ezekiel Chapter 37 about the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph being brought together as one stick by the hand of the Almighty and came upon some interesting websites related to the Two Houses of God’s people the Israelites.  In the Bible God refers to His two families.  He calls one the House of Israel and the other the House of Judah.  After King Solomon’s reign the United Kingdom of Israel was split into two kingdoms.  The northern kingdom was called Israel and consisted of the northern 10 tribes of which Ephraim and Manasseh were the most numerous.  The southern kingdom was called Judah and consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.  Both kingdoms rebelled against God and were exiled.  However, the Northern Kingdom (House of Israel) was conquered and exiled by the Assyrians in 721 BCE to the Caucus Mountains, lost their identity, and never returned.  The southern kingdom (House of Judah) was exiled in 587 BCE to Babylon and was able to return after 70 years to the Promised Land.  The House of Judah is the Jews of today.  Ezekiel 37 is talking about bringing the lost 10 tribes back to the Promised Land to reconcile and reunite with the House of Judah during the end times in order to establish the promised Kingdom of God.

 

In order for that to happen, the Lost 10 Tribes will need to be awakened to who they are and return to God and the Promised Land.  I came across 2 websites that have traced the Lost 10 Tribes migrations and identified who they are at present.  One website is by Steve Collins, a Christian researcher in the USA and the other by Yair Davidiy, an Orthodox Jewish researcher in Israel.  What is interesting is that they didn’t even know each other and their research and conclusions are almost identical.  Steve’s website is http://stevencollins.com while Yair’s is http://britam.org .  There is lots of great information on each website and each has authored multiple books on the subject.  What got me really excited is that they trace the Lost 10 Tribes to be predominately in the West.  They identify Ephraim as being located in Great Britain and Manasseh as being located in the USA.  They don’t claim everyone in those areas is descendants of the Lost 10 Tribes, but that there are elements of them concentrated in those countries.  They use Biblical proofs, history, and archeology to back up their claims.

 

One of the reasons this got me so excited is that it matches what one of my ancestors believed.  His name was George Duffield and I am an eighth generation direct descendant of his.  George was a Presbyterian minister to the first Continental Congress and was instrumental in the founding of the USA.  In his one published sermon which was delivered on December 11, 1783, he stated that America was Israel re-gathered and had a divine purpose from God.  He also believed that eventually the Jews (Judah) would return to the Promised Land and would have their own country.  He based this on his understanding of Bible prophecy.

The Hebraic restoration movement among evangelical Christians is the modern phenomenon of the lost 10 tribes waking up to who they are.  They have an intense desire to return to God and his Word, the Torah.  They realize that they have been taught lies in their Chirstian religions which orignially were based in Judaism and then became paganized over time.