For the source text click/tap here: Sanhedrin 110
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In 722 BCE Assyria invaded Israel, and the northern kingdom was conquered. Many of the people who lived in the northern kingdom were exiled, mainly to Assyria, Media, and Aram-Naharaim. Archaeological evidence suggests that they were eventually completely assimilated into these societies. Meanwhile, some alien populations — Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim — were brought in to settle the northern kingdom, and those groups all ended up assimilating with each other and with the Israelites who remained in the north.
In 586 BCE the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar attacked the southern kingdom, and exiled much of that population to Babylon. Though many lost their Israelite identity in Babylon, plenty of them retained their connection to their heritage, and eventually returned to Israel and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. By that point the northern kingdom was lost. Today’s Jews stem from the people of Judah (thus, Judaism).
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, in his book The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History, traces the global journey of the myth. From Ethiopia to China to the Americas, various communities have been identified—or have identified themselves—as descendants of the lost tribes. Benite demonstrates how the narrative was adapted to different political and cultural contexts, including Christian missionary endeavors and Jewish messianic movements.
We explore these ideas and the mythical river Sambatyon.