"The Return of the Ten Tribes is Still to Take Place,” by Alex Zephyr.
"MOSES SPOKE TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL", ... "TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL" on behalf of Hashem. This undoubtedly means that he addressed "ALL TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL," as is further clarified by Moses, "YOU STAND THIS DAY, ALL OF YOU, BEFORE HASHEM YOUR GOD YOUR TRIBAL HEADS, YOUR ELDERS AND YOUR OFFICIALS, ALL THE MAN OF ISRAEL" (Deut.29:1, 9).
“THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BRING YOU BACK FROM CAPTIVITY, AND HAVE COMPASSION ON YOU, AND GATHER YOU AGAIN FROM ALL THE NATIONS WHERE THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS SCATTERED YOU. IF ANY OF YOU ARE DRIVEN OUT TO THE FARTHEST PARTS UNDER HEAVEN, FROM THERE THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL GATHER YOU, AND FROM THERE HE WILL BRING YOU. THEN THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BRING YOU TO THE LAND WHICH YOUR FATHERS POSSESSED AND YOU SHALL POSSESS IT. HE WILL PROSPER YOU AND MULTIPLY YOU MORE THAN YOUR FATHERS" (Deuteronomy 30:3-5).
Have these Prophecies been fulfilled through the Jewish Diaspora and the State of Israel?
No.
The prophecies of (Deuteronomy 30:3-5) have not been fulfilled in our time in its entirety, the way it had been intended by Hashem. It is true that half of the Jewish people 8 million have returned to the Promised Land, but where is the rest of the so-called the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel with estimated numbers of 550 million?
"YET THE NUMBER OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL BE AS STARS OF HEAVEN, AS THE SAND OF THE SEASHORE, WHICH CANNOT BE MEASURED NOR NUMBERED" (Hosea 1:10; Genesis 22:17, 48:19).
Surely, such words could not apply to Judah, whose population (due to constant killings and holocausts) cannot approach the description of "the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore," which properly fits the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Moses was talking to all Israel, to the whole House of Jacob, which consists of the 12 Tribes. At this particular time the word "Jew" was not even in use. The first time the word "Jew" appeared in the Hebrew Bible was much later (2-Kings 16:5-6; Esther 2:5). Jews originated from the dominant Tribe of Judah; they are descendants of former citizens of the Kingdom of Judea. So, this prophecy has not been fulfilled yet, as the only small group of Israelites from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and half of Levy returned. It is not what this prophecy predicted all the Tribes of the House of Israel were meant to return. God will not leave Israel until everything written and spoken will be done.
Most people do not understand the difference between the Biblical terms of "Judah" and "Israel." Any time they hear the word Israel, they speak of the Jews. Some scholars conveniently substitute Israelites by the Jews, because the existence of the Ten Israelite Tribes is, for them, a myth and fairy-tale. For them the Jewish people are the Biblical Israel of the Twelve Tribes. The future prophecies of reunion and redemption apply to the Jews only, and there is no such thing as the "Lost" Ten Tribes of Israel in exile. It could not be farther from the Biblical truth! It is important to remember that God's prophets have constantly made a careful distinction between the Israelite people and the Jewish people. The recipients of the Torah on Mount Sinai were all tribes of Israel, the Hebrew nation. Hashem made a Covenant with all Israelites, not only with the Jews, whose name was not even in existence at this time (Exodus 19:5-8). God loves and protects Israel: "I AM THE FATHER TO ISRAEL, AND EPHRAIM IS MY FIRSTBORN" (Jeremiah 31:9). In the words of the founder and director of the Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness, Movement of the Ten Tribes of Israel, the knowledgeable researcher, theologian, and a popular writer books on the subject of the Ten Tribes, Yair Davidiy, "STRICTLY SPEAKING, ISRAELITES FROM THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL SHOULD NOT REFERRED TO AS 'YEHUDIM'. THEY ARE NOT JEWS." Mr. Davidiy has dedicated his life to finding and identifying the 'Lost' Northern Ten Tribes of Israel. Nobody knows this issue better than he (www.britam.org). To call the Ten Tribes "Jews" is incorrect and unscriptural. God has dealt with these two Kingdoms and two nations separately throughout Scripture. And it will be that way until the advent of the Messiah and Redemption in the last days.
The Tribes of Israel have never returned to the Holy Land not in time of the prophet Jeremiah, "FOR, LO, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD, THAT I WILL TURN THE CAPTIVITY OF MY PEOPLE ISRAEL AND JUDAH, SAITH THE LORD; AND I WILL CAUSE THEM TO RETURN TO THE LAND THAT I GAVE TO THEIR FATHERS, AND THEY SHALL POSSESS IT" (Jeremiah 30:3); not in the time of the Second temple, as wrote Rabbi Meir Leibush Wisser (“MALBIM,” 1809 –1879): "GOD WILL INGATHER THE TEN TRIBES WHO WERE IN FARAWAY LANDS AND DID NOT RETURN IN THE TIME OF THE SECOND TEMPLE." They did not return at the end of the 1st Century, as the celebrated Jewish-Roman historian Josephus Flavius informed us, "THE TEN TRIBES ARE BEYOND THE EUPHRATES AND ARE AN IMMENSE MULTITUDE WHOSE NUMBERS CANNOT BE ESTIMATED."
The great Nahmanides (1194-1270 CE) said that the overwhelming majority of the Ten Tribes never returned to the Promised Land though they are destined to do so in the future. "THERE WAS NO REDEMPTION FOR THE TEN TRIBES WHO REMAINED IN EXILE. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED NOT TO RECOGNIZE THIS FACT!" (“Sefer HaGeulah”). Abarbanel also foresaw such a return in the 16 Century: "THE TEN TRIBES WILL RETURN TO SAMARIA AND SO WILL THE SCATTERED DISPERSION OF JUDAH BE GATHERED IN FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THIS PROMISED INGATHERING WILL OCCUR IN THE TIME OF THE MESSIAH. UNTIL NOW IT HAS NEVER BEEN FULFILLED."
There are more than 40 prophecies in the Hebrew Bible (Tanach) outlining their future destiny as a reunion with their brother Judah and redemption in the times of Messiah. "JUDAH AND ISRAEL WILL BE AS THOUGH I HAD NOT CAST THEM OFF" (Zechariah 10:6). The best description concerning the fate of Israel and Judah in the last days can be found in the famous 'Two Sticks' prophecy of Ezekiel: "AND I WILL MAKE THEM ONE NATION IN THE LAND UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF ISRAEL; AND ONE KING SHALL BE KING TO THEM ALL; AND THEY SHALL BE NO MORE TWO NATIONS, NEITHER SHALL THEY BE DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS ANYMORE" (Ezekiel 37:16-24). The Scripture says that all of the Tribes of Israel will return to the Promised Land, not only the Jews: "THEN SHALL THEY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD THEIR GOD, WHICH CAUSED THEM TO BE LED INTO CAPTIVITY AMONG THE HEATHEN: BUT I HAVE GATHERED THEM UNTO THEIR OWN LAND, AND HAVE LEFT NONE OF THEM ANYMORE THERE" (Ezekiel 36:10; 39:28). Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitschaki, 1040-1105, France) commented "NO ONE WILL BE LEFT IN THE EXILE!" “Daat Sofreim” (Rabbi Chaim Dov Rabinovitz, 1909-2001, Lithuania), agreed: "THIS IS THE MOST EXPLICIT PROMISE CONCERNING THE INGATHERING OF ALL THE OUTCASTS OF ISRAEL."
The return of the tribes is fundamental and is an essential dimension of Judaism. Those who reject these numerous prophecies reject the sacred Word of the Almighty. As the readers may see, the prophecies (Deuteronomy 30:3-5) are intended for the future and definitely will come to pass in the time of the Biblical Messiah. "THERE WILL BE NO COMPLETE REDEMPTION FOR JUDAH WITHOUT THE RETURN OF THE TEN TRIBES," stated Yair Davidiy (Ezekiel 16:53, 55, 61).
This Prophecy of Moses has not been completely fulfilled yet in our time.
"THEN THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BRING YOU TO THE LAND WHICH YOUR FATHERS POSSESSED AND YOU SHALL POSSESS IT" (Deuteronomy 30:5).
A certain Rabbi recently claimed the above verse has already come to pass, "AND TODAY, WE LIVE IN A TIME WHEN EVERY WORD OF THESE VERSES IS A REALITY. THE JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE RETURNED EN MASSE TO OUR LAND. WE HAVE TAKEN POSSESSION OF IT IN THE FORM OF JEWISH SOVEREIGNTY."
Such a conclusion is pure exaggeration. While it is true that part of the Jewish people have returned to the Land and did establish the State of Israel in 1948, this is not exactly what the prophecy says. We may consider what happened then as a realization of the First Stage of Redemption, when only part of the Jews returned and only a small part of the Promised Land was taken. The Present-Day State of Israel in area is of the size of New Jersey. This is only a small part of the Biblical Land given by Hashem to our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:7; 15:18; 26:3; 28:13). The Biblical geographical Land of the United Kingdom of Israel in the time of Kings David and Solomon, according to the Promise of Hashem to Abraham, stretched "FROM THE RIVER OF EGYPT UNTO THE GREAT RIVER, THE RIVER EUPHRATES." This is the Land our forefathers had possessed. That is what Moses told the children of Israel, emphasizing the importance of taking precisely the Land were promised, not a small part of it. That it is what prophecy predicted (Deuteronomy 30:5). The Time will definitely come when these prophecies will find a complete fulfilment to the last letter, as it is written: "BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD, I WILL PERFORM THAT GOOD THING WHICH I HAVE PROMISED UNTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND TO THE HOUSE OF JUDAH" (Jer. 33:14).