“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed: . . . an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7:4).

There has been much speculation as to what happened to the so-called ten lost tribes of Israel ever since these ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were taken as captives to Assyria by the Assyrian king (II Kings 17:6). The other two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) were later taken captive to Babylon, but eventually returned to rebuild Jerusalem and establish their nation in the land once again. Nothing is ever said about the ten tribes, however, and various theories have been offered as to what happened to them.

As a matter-of-fact, many individual members of the ten tribes did come back to Jerusalem and were assimilated with the two southern tribes, both before and after the Assyrian exile. Devout Anna, for example, who had watched for the Messiah for many years, was of the tribe of Aser (Luke 2:36).

In fact, immediately after Jeroboam led the ten tribes away from Rehoboam to establish his northern kingdom, there were many godly people in the ten tribes who opted to stay with Jerusalem. “And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to (Rehoboam) out of all their coasts. . . . And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers” (II Chronicles 11:13,16).

Numerous other references throughout the Bible confirm that most of the deported ten tribes, or their descendants, eventually came back to the Promised Land and were all called Jews (from the name Judah) in the time of Christ. The ten tribes were never lost at all. HMM