Why isn’t the knowledge of the Lost Tribes of Israel more popular?

By Mikkel S. Kragh

The ancient Biblical nation of Israel consisted of 12 tribes. 10 of the Israelite tribes were deported by the Assyrian Empire out of the land of Israel in the 8th century BC and settled in northern areas of the Assyrian Empire. Mainstream historians simply do not know what happened to these 10 Tribes of Israel. They became lost to world history and became known as the ‘Lost 10 Tribes of Israel’.

The remaining 2 tribes are known in the Bible as the House of Judah, because the tribe of Judah was the predominant tribe. After the exile of the 10 Tribes of Israel, the latter part of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament often call the people of the House of Judah ‘Jews’, because ‘Jew’ simply means ‘Judean’ or ‘Judahite’ and ‘a man of Judah’.

Since the nation of Israel is central to God’s plan with mankind, you would think that the knowledge of the present-day whereabouts of the 10 Tribes of Israel would be something most Christians and Jews would want to know the truth about. And yet, only relatively few are interested in the subject. Why?

The Maharal on the Lost Tribes of Israel

Rabbi Yehuda Loew (ca. 1525-1609) was one of the most highly respected Jewish religious thinkers of his age. He is also known as the Maharal of Prague, or simply the Maharal. According to Rabbi Loew it is God Himself who is preventing the knowledge of the Lost 10 Tribes to became wide-spread. The reason is, according to Rabbi Loew, that the 10 Tribes of Israel and the Jews are going to be reunited at the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, God is holding back the knowledge of the whereabouts of the 10 Tribes until the coming of the Messiah.

The Chabad Lubavitch, one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations, explains on their website that Rabbi Loew “taught that we will never discover the tribes by searching. He explained that the exile of the ten tribes is a divine decree that will not be rescinded until the messianic era. Even knowing their whereabouts would already be a measure of reunification, and G-d has decreed that there not be reunification until the time of the final redemption. In other words, ultimately it is G-d’s decree that is holding us back from discovering the ten lost tribes.”[1]

This explanation is reasonable, because according the prophet Ezekiel chap. 37, the House of Israel and the House of Judah will only be reunited at the coming (or 2^nd coming) of the Messiah the son of David.

The patriarch Joseph as a type of the House of Joseph

The stories of the Bibles are not just historical narratives. Many of them are also types or foreshadows, or prophecies if you will, about future events that will play out in a similar pattern. One of these stories is the life of the patriarch Joseph. The patriarch Joseph is a type of the House of Joseph, which is another name for the 10 Tribes of Israel.

The patriarch Joseph was sold into slavery, which a type of the exile of the House of Joseph. Joseph became a slave and a prisoner, which is a type of the House of Joseph in their exile where they served pagan gods and pagan human rulers. Joseph eventually became the viceroy or prime minister of Egypt, second only the Pharaoh. This is a type of the House of Joseph converting to Christianity and becoming the most powerful and influential nations of the world.

And now we come to the parallel to the 21st century. When Joseph had become the viceroy of Egypt, his brothers back in the land of Canaan thought Joseph was either dead or maybe living as a slave somewhere. This is a type of today, where most people believe the House of Joseph has either become completely assimilated with the Gentile nations of the world, or maybe they exist as some primitive tribes in Asia and Africa.

And now we come to the parallel to the future. When Joseph’s brothers in the land of Canaan came to Egypt to buy grain during the severe famine, they didn’t recognize Joseph. Joseph looked like an Egyptian, spoke like and Egyptian and acted like an Egyptian. Joseph had, for all intents and purposes, become a Gentile, a goy. But eventually Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and brought his family to safety in Egypt. The parallel to the reunification of Joseph with his brothers is that in the future close to the Second Coming of Christ, the House of Joseph’s brothers in the land of Canaan, or the land of Israel, that is the Jews, will be in trouble and will seek the help of the most powerful nations of the world, whom they will think of as Gentiles. But they will discover that these ‘Gentiles’ are, in fact, the House of Joseph, that is the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel.

Joseph’s brothers came to him for help during a great famine, which is a type of the Great Tribulation.

When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, they expected Joseph to be dead or a slave, but he was, in fact, the viceroy. This is a type of today, where the House of Joseph is found to be the core of the nations of north-western Europe and the nations descended from them, including the United States.

Isaiah: God will put a veil over the identity of the nations

We read in the prophet Isaiah: “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” (Isa 25:7 KJV) Or, as it reads in another translation: “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;” (Isa 25:7 NIV)

This prophecy that Isaiah penned down 2700 years ago is about to be fulfilled in our near future. It means that it is indeed God who has covered, or hidden, or made to become ‘lost’, the identity of all nations, including the 10 Tribes of Israel. But at a certain point in time, He will remove that covering and uncover the true identity of all these nations, including all the 12 Tribes of Israel.

Israel in OT, NT and Revelation

We find another clue in the general focus of the Bible. From Genesis chap. 12 to the end of the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is the focus of God’s plan and the Gentile nations can, for all intents and purposes, only come to God by leaving their own ethnicity and becoming a part of ethnic Israel.

This changes in the New Testament, where Christ and the apostles preach that people of all ethnicities can be accepted of God as a part of God’s Covenant ‘Spiritual Israel’ without changing their ethnicity. If one did not scratch the surface of the New Testament, one might be tempted to believe that God had done away with the old ethnic 12 Tribes of Israel. But if one does scratch the surface of the New Testament, one will discover that many of references that seem to refer to non-Israelite Gentiles becoming a part of God’s people in fact refer to ethnic Israelites of the 10 Tribes AGAIN becoming a part of God’s people.

For example, in St Paul’s letter to the Romans chap. 9 we read that God would make some certain ‘Gentiles’ a part of His people. In most Bibles, the commentators and editors write that this is about non-Israelite Gentiles becoming a part of God people. But let us look for ourself:

“As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” (Rom 9:25-26)

Who are these people that were not God’s people and not beloved whom God would make His people and the children of the living God, that is Christians? We don’t need to ask Sherlock Holmes, because Paul quotes from the prophet Hosea (‘Osee’), where Hosea prophecies in the mid-8th century that God would ‘divorce’ the 10 Tribes of Israel and make them Not-My-People:

“And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye 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 nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.” (Hos 1:2-10)

The purpose of Christ offering the Gospel to all the nations of the world and not just Israel was two-fold. First of all, it would give people of all nation who had the faith of Abraham to become God’s people. Second, when the Gospel spread out across the world, it would eventually reach the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel, and the 10 Tribes of Israel would again become God’s people. Even though they didn’t know about their true ethnic identity.

God’s focus, however, changes in the Book of Revelation, where the 12 Tribes of Israel suddenly again become the focus of God’s attention. God’s seals 144,000 Israelites followed by a multitude of all nations who follow Christ. Right now, we are still living in the age where Israel’s identity is ‘hidden under the surface’. But when the events of Revelation start to unfold and the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites takes place, the identity of the 12 Tribes of Israel will become apparent to the world.

What does it mean for us?

For those of us who have discovered that the 10 Tribes of Israel are, in fact, to be found in the nations of north-western Europe and their descendants across the world, what does this mean?

It means that it is God who is keeping back this precious knowledge. As long as God is keeping back this knowledge from becoming mainstream, it is an uphill battle for us. However, when God choses to make this knowledge mainstream knowledge, there is nothing the enemy can do to stop it from coming out.

The Book of Proverbs says: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” (Pro 25:2)

This means that even though it is God who has hidden this precious knowledge from the world, those who do discover it are doing the work of a king. You will be rewarded for discovering this knowledge before it becomes mainstream, and you will become even more rewarded by sharing it with others.

August 2024