Ascended Masters, Shangra-la Mission,

The Lost Tribes of Israel

Brief History of Tribes

Israel becomes defined as a kingdom

Increasing pressure from the Philistines and other neighboring tribes forced the Israelites to unite under one king. According to the Bible, it was Samuel, one of last of the judges, to whom the nation appealed for a king. Samuel anointed Saul ben Kish from the tribe of Benjamin as the first king of the Israelites in approximately 1020 BCE. It was his successor, David c.1006 BCE, who was responsible for consolidating the monarchy and creating the first Hebrew state.

From 1000 BC to today

In the line to King David there was Rahab the Canaanite and Ruth the Moabite. David's wife, Bathsheba, was the wife of a Hittite, and their son, Solomon, had wives from other nations round about Israel. Over time it became clear that those who joined Israel were also to be accounted as Israel, so eventually Israel ceased being exclusively the physical descendants of Jacob.

Under the great King David (of the tribe of Judah) the tribes were unified, and it was David who was able to totally subject all the previous occupants to Israel's rule. This Israel became defined as a kingdom. Up to that point, all twelve tribes of Israel (plus the priestly tribe of Levi) had been united under the monarchies of Saul, David, and Solomon.

Israel divides into two kingdoms
David was succeeded by his son Solomon around 965 B.C. After King Solomon died the Kingdom of Israel split in two divided by political and religious differences. But when Solomon's son Rehoboam ascended to the throne, the ten Northern tribes rebelled and seceded from the union and formed the northern kingdom, which retained the title of Israel. They were ruled by a succession of monarchies. The northern Kingdom of Israel was also called Ephraim, because the tribe of Joshua was the largest and most powerful tribe of the northern kingdom. Ephraim was known for excellence in battle, but it also was jealous of the primary role of Judah as the ruling tribe.

Judah and Benjamin, (plus much of Levi) in the south remained loyal to the Davidic house, under the control of the king in Jerusalem and became known as Judah the most prominent tribe, but it included Benjamin and much of Levi. The coalition was natural between them, because Jerusalem, the capitol, was in Benjamin's land, and Judah had the ordained line of kings that ruled there, and Levi was assigned to attend to the Holy Temple that was built there.
From that time on, the tribes were divided into two nations, which came to be called the House of Israel (the Northern ten tribes) and the House of Judah (the Southern two tribes).

The two kingdoms of Ephraim-Israel and Judah-Israel lived in disharmony for most of the next 200 years until around 723 B.C the northern tribes of Israel (Ephraim) were carried off by conquering Assyria.

To keep conquered nations in subjection, it was Assyrian policy to break them up by deporting their native populations to other areas and resettling the land with newcomers.

"In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and he carried them away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of Medes."

The northern ten tribes disappear
In the years 722-721 BC, the Ten Tribes who comprised the northern Kingdom of Israel disappeared as they were deported to other areas. Conquered by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser V, they were exiled to upper Mesopotamia and Medes, today modern Syria and Iraq. They were replaced by settlers from locations in or near Babylon and Syria.
These settlers intermarried, together with the remaining Israelites, and became the Samaritans mentioned in the New Testament (a few hundred of whom still survive today.) The Israelites who had been deported also intermarried with the peoples of the places where they had been resettled. They eventually lost their distinct identity, disappeared, and their culture was lost to history. Some refer to them as "the lost tribes of Israel." Historians trace the remnants of these ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom as concentrated in the European nations and British Isles and Kashmir. Some scholars have traced these two half tribes of Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to having reincarnated in the British Isles, the United States and English speaking countries.

Southern Tribes form into Jewish nation
A hundred years later, most of Judah also was carried off to Babylon and began to be called "Jews" there. During this time they grew in prominence and many other peoples became Jews with them. Seventy years later Judah returned to the land of Israel to reform their kingdom, but it was only as a political protectorate under various world empires. Since the captivity no descendant of David has ruled as king.

In 168 B.C.(E.) Hasmonaen Jews, called Macabbees, overthrew the Greeks and their descendants ruled the land until Rome took complete control in about 45 B.C.(E.). They put the Edomite Herod (called the "great") on the throne. By the time of Yeshua, Israel was split by Rome into political regions known as Judah, Samaria and Galilee. After this, in the year 70, the Temple was destroyed and wars with Rome ensued until about the year 120, when Emporer Hadrian totally destroyed Jerusalem and dispursed all the Jews from the land of Israel. He gave the land of Israel the name Palestine, named after the Philistines who were ancient antagonists of Israel.

For the 2000 years since then a few Jewish people were able to remain in the land, but it was not under Jewish control again until 1948, when the Jewish State of Israel was born.

The tribes of Judah and Benjamin and some Levites make up the "people of Judah," who also reincarnated in Europe and America. Both peoples eventually migrated and reincarnated throughout the world. Generally, the ten lost tribes reincarnated among the Gentiles, while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin are the modern-day Jews.

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