The Ten Tribes will come back from where? Rabbinical Sources. 4 November 2025, 11 Cheshvan 5786.
Adapted from: "Where did the lost ten tribes go?" by Yair Davidiy.
https://www.quora.com/Where-did-the-lost-ten-tribes-go/answer/Yair-Davidiy
The first king of Israel was Saul from the Tribe of Benjamin. Then came David from the Tribe of Judah. The son of David was Solomon who built the Temple in Jerusalem. In the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Ten out of the 12 Tribes separated and set up their own kingdom in the north. In the south the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi remained centered around Jerusalem. They were later joined by minority elements from the other Tribes. Collectively they are referred to in the Bible as "Judah." From Judah emerged the present-day Jewish People. In the north the Ten Tribes had their own Kingdom. The Tribies of the Northern Kingdom of Israel were: Reuben, Asher, Gad, Naphtali, Dan, Zebulon, Issachar, Simeon, and Joseph which was divided into two two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.
The first King of the separate northern Kingdom of Israel was Jeroboam ben Nebat (930-909 BCE). He belonged to the Tribe of Ephraim. According to conventional reckoning about 200 years later the Assyrians began conquering and exiling the Northern Israelites in approximately 740 BCE (or 733/2 BCE depending on which source is used). Probably, the first to be exiled were the Tribes east of the Jordan:
1-Chronicles 5:26 AND THE GOD OF ISRAEL STIRRED UP THE SPIRIT OF PUL KING OF ASSYRIA, AND THE SPIRIT OF TILGATHPILNESER KING OF ASSYRIA, AND HE CARRIED THEM AWAY, EVEN THE REUBENITES, AND THE GADITES, AND THE HALF TRIBE OF MANASSEH, AND BROUGHT THEM UNTO HALAH, AND HABOR, AND HARA, AND TO THE RIVER GOZAN, UNTO THIS DAY.
After that the Assyrians exiled the Tribes of the Northern Galilee (2-Kings 15:29). Then the remnant from the region of Samaria were also exiled (2-Kings 17: 6). Jeroboam son of Nebat had been promised that 10 Tribes would be given unto him to rule over (1-Kings 11: 35). These were those who were exiled by the Assyrians.
The Prophet Isaiah prophesied that these Tribes would become "Lost" in the Land of Assyria but that in the End Times they would return.
Isaiah 27:13 And in that day a great SHOFAR [trumpet of rams horn] will sound. Those who were LOST [Hebrew: "Ha-ovdim"] in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
These "Lost Ten Tribes" had been exiled because they ceased to practice circumcision, went in the ways of the pagan nations around them and worshiped idols (2-Kings 17:20).
Eventually they lost consciousness of their religion and ancestry. Nevertheless, physically they remained together.
The Bible Prophesies that they shall return and re-unite with Judah.
Hosea (NASB) 1:
10 YET THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL
WILL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA,
WHICH CANNOT BE MEASURED OR NUMBERED;
AND IN THE PLACE
WHERE IT IS SAID TO THEM,
'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,'
IT WILL BE SAID TO THEM,
'YOU ARE THE SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.'
11 AND THE SONS OF JUDAH AND THE SONS OF ISRAEL WILL BE GATHERED TOGETHER,
AND THEY WILL APPOINT FOR THEMSELVES ONE LEADER,
AND THEY WILL GO UP FROM THE LAND,
FOR GREAT WILL BE THE DAY OF JEZREEL.
Isaiah (NKJV) 11:
12 HE WILL SET UP A BANNER FOR THE NATIONS,
AND WILL ASSEMBLE THE OUTCASTS OF ISRAEL,
AND GATHER TOGETHER THE DISPERSED OF JUDAH
FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.
13 ALSO THE ENVY OF EPHRAIM SHALL DEPART,
AND THE ADVERSARIES OF JUDAH SHALL BE CUT OFF;
EPHRAIM SHALL NOT ENVY JUDAH,
AND JUDAH SHALL NOT HARASS EPHRAIM.
Ezekiel (NKJV) 37:
19 SAY TO THEM, 'THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD: "SURELY I WILL TAKE THE STICK OF JOSEPH, WHICH IS IN THE HAND OF EPHRAIM, AND THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, HIS COMPANIONS; AND I WILL JOIN THEM WITH IT, WITH THE STICK OF JUDAH, AND MAKE THEM ONE STICK, AND THEY WILL BE ONE IN MY HAND." ' 20 AND THE STICKS ON WHICH YOU WRITE WILL BE IN YOUR HAND BEFORE THEIR EYES.
21 THEN SAY TO THEM, 'THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD: "SURELY I WILL TAKE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FROM AMONG THE NATIONS, WHEREVER THEY HAVE GONE, AND WILL GATHER THEM FROM EVERY SIDE AND BRING THEM INTO THEIR OWN LAND; 22 AND I WILL MAKE THEM ONE NATION IN THE LAND, ON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL; AND ONE KING SHALL BE KING OVER THEM ALL; THEY SHALL NO LONGER BE TWO NATIONS, NOR SHALL THEY EVER BE DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS AGAIN.
Jeremiah (NKJV) 3:
18 IN THOSE DAYS THE HOUSE OF JUDAH SHALL WALK WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, AND THEY SHALL COME TOGETHER OUT OF THE LAND OF THE NORTH TO THE LAND THAT I HAVE GIVEN AS AN INHERITANCE TO YOUR FATHERS.
Zechariah 10:
7 THOSE OF EPHRAIM SHALL BE LIKE A MIGHTY MAN...
8 I WILL WHISTLE FOR THEM AND GATHER THEM, FOR I WILL REDEEM THEM; AND THEY SHALL INCREASE AS THEY ONCE INCREASED.
9 I WILL SOW THEM AMONG THE PEOPLES, AND THEY SHALL REMEMBER ME IN FAR COUNTRIES; THEY SHALL LIVE, TOGETHER WITH THEIR CHILDREN, AND THEY SHALL RETURN.
10 I WILL ALSO BRING THEM BACK FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT [in Hebrew "MITSRAYIM"] WHICH CAN ALSO CONNOTE REGIONS IN THE NORTH] AND GATHER THEM FROM ASSYRIA. I WILL BRING THEM INTO THE LAND OF GILEAD AND LEBANON, UNTIL NO MORE ROOM IS FOUND FOR THEM.
Micah 7:
14 ... LET THEM FEED IN BASHAN AND GILEAD, AS IN DAYS OF OLD.
15 AS IN THE DAYS WHEN YOU CAME OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, I WILL SHOW THEM WONDERS.
Jeremiah (NASB) 31:
20 Is Ephraim My dear son?
IS HE A DELIGHTFUL CHILD?
INDEED, AS OFTEN AS I HAVE SPOKEN AGAINST HIM,
I CERTAINLY STILL REMEMBER HIM;
THEREFORE MY HEART YEARNS FOR HIM;
I WILL SURELY HAVE MERCY ON HIM, DECLARES THE LORD.
The Sages spoke of the Lost Ten Tribes being exiled to beyond the Sambation River, to beneath the Clouds of Darkness, to the Daphnea of Antiochea and to other areas. These are all known historical regions. From those areas they moved onwards.
Obadiah (NIV) 1: 20
THIS COMPANY OF ISRAELITE EXILES WHO ARE IN CANAAN WILL POSSESS THE LAND AS FAR AS ZAREPHATH; THE EXILES FROM JERUSALEM WHO ARE IN SEPHARAD WILL POSSESS THE TOWNS OF THE NEGEV.
The first part of this passage was understood to refer to the Lost Ten Tribes.
Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040-1105 CE, Champagne, France): "THE FIRST EXILE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHO WERE EXILED FROM THE TEN TRIBES TO THE LAND OF CANAANITES UNTO ZAREPHATH...THE EXEGETES SAY THAT ZAREPHATH MEANS THE KINGDOM CALLED `FRANCE' IN COMMON LANGUAGE.."
i.e. Rashi says that the Lost Ten Tribes are in France!
Ramban (Nachmanides, Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman, 1194-1270, Spain; from "The Book of Redemption", chapter 1.):
"THE VISION OF OBADIAH ..THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH REFERS TO THE TEN TRIBES ...WHO WERE EXILED AND STILL ARE IN THEIR PLACE OF EXILE, THE EXILE OF ZAREPHATH AND CANAAN WHICH ARE IN THE FARTHEST NORTH..."
Don Isaac ben Yehudah Abarbanel, (1437-1508 CE) adds:
"ZERAPHATH IS FRANCE AND SO TOO THE EXILE OF SEPHARAD IS SPAIN... AND LET YOU NOT ERR JUST BECAUSE ZERAPHATH [I.E. FRANCE] IS SPOKEN OF AND ANGLETERRE [I.E. ENGLAND] IS NOT RECALLED, FOR THERE TOO DID THE EXILES GO, FOR LO AND BEHOLD, THAT ISLAND IS CONSIDERED A PART OF ZAREPHATH AND IN THE BEGINNING BELONGED TO IT AND IN THEIR ANCIENT BOOKS THEY CALL IT THE ISLE OF ZAREPHATH [I.E. OF FRANCE] EVEN THOUGH IT LATER SEPARATED ITSELF FROM ZAREPHATH [FRANCE] AND BECAME A KINGDOM IN ITS OWN RIGHT. " (Abarbanel on Obadiah).
Based on Rabbinical Commentaries this is how the verse could be interpreted:
Obadiah 1:20 AND THIS FIRST EXILE OF THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL [Rashi] WHO DWELL FROM GERMANY [= CANAANITES, Iben Ezra] AND HOLLAND [Jewish sources quoted by Calvin], EVEN UNTO FRANCE [= ZAREPHATH, Rashi, Iben Ezra, Radak, Abarbanel, Daat Sofrim] AND ENGLAND [= ZAREPHATH, Abarbanel] AND THE CAPTIVITY OF THE JEWS OF JERUSALEM IN SPAIN [=SEPHARAD, Targum Yehonatan] SHALL POSSESS THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH.
In Medieval Times "Zeraphath" was a term applied of France especially the Northern section. According to Abarbanel and others the term could also encompass the Island of Britain and other northern areas. The Lost Ten Tribes were believed to be in that region.
Judah (i.e. the Jews) will prepare the way for the other Tribes, see: