Regathering the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel:
The Prodigal Son Returns
Executive Summary:
Christianity and Nazarene Israel’s aim to take belief in a Jewish Messiah to the ends of the earth—except that Nazarene Israel also aims to bring back the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel (called the House of Ephraim or the House of Israel) in Scripture, and to build the Messiah’s kingdom.
How the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel Became Lost
Most believers know that there were twelve tribes in Israel.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 49:28
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.
However, not everyone realizes that ten of the tribes became lost, and that they are prophesied to return one day. But how did the separation come about in the first place? And how are the lost tribes to come home? And where are they now, in the meantime? We cover these questions in more detail in the Nazarene Israel study, but there is an ancient division in the nation of Israel that goes back to the days when Judah and the other brothers sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 37:28
28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
We chronicle the separation of the twelve tribes into two camps in Nazarene Israel and in other places. Effectively, one camp (or one house) centered around the tribe of Judah, while the other camp (or the other house) centered around the tribe of Joseph’s son Ephraim. Then, after the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, a split took place within the nation which led to two separate kingdoms being formed. Now there were two tribes left in the south, called the southern kingdom of Judah (or the house of Judah). They are the spiritual (if not also the literal) ancestors of the Jews as we know them today.
The ten tribes in the north were called the kingdom of Israel (or Ephraim), also called the house of Israel, the house of Ephraim, or the house of Joseph). When these northern ten tribes later became lost to history, they became known as “The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.”
But how did the split between the kingdoms take place? As we explain in Nazarene Israel, King Solomon had earlier enslaved the northern ten tribes of the house of Ephraim (Israel)—and Solomon’s grandson Rehoboam (Rehavam) threatened to treat them even worse. When the ten northern tribes saw that King Rehavam did not love them (and planned to treat them cruelly) they decided it would be better to break away from Judah and establish their own kingdom in the north.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 12:16
16 Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, “What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! [Therefore go] To your tents, O Israel! [And] Now, see to your own house, O David!” So [the house of] Israel departed to their tents.
The ten northern tribes of the house of Ephraim (Israel) then established a man named Yaravam (Jeroboam) as their king, forming the northern kingdom of Israel (aka, Ephraim, Joseph).
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 12:20a
20a Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Yaravam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel.
With that, the United Monarchy was no more.
Prophetic Shadow Patterns for the Lost Ten Tribes
What followed after the breakup of the United Monarchy shows us prophetic shadow hints (remezim) that suggest who and where the Lost Ten Tribes are now.
Judaism holds that history repeats itself. This is seen in Rabbi Moses ben Nachman’s (Nachmanides’ or the Ramban’s) commentary on Genesis 12:6, Ma’asei Avot Siman Levanim (the Acts of the Fathers are a Sign for the Children). The Ramban tells us that the reason Scripture records so many details of what happened to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is that these things establish patterns that would repeat themselves to later generations of Israelites.
I will tell you a principle by which you will understand all the coming portions of Scripture concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is indeed a great matter which our Rabbis mentioned briefly, saying: “Whatever has happened to the patriarchs is a sign to the children.” It is for this reason that the verses narrate at great length the account of the journeys of the patriarchs, the digging of the wells, and other events. Now someone may consider them unnecessary and of no useful purpose, but in truth they all serve as a lesson for the future: when an event happens to any one of the three patriarchs, that which is decreed to happen to his children can be understood.
[Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, Commentary on Genesis 12:6, Sefaria]
We would agree with Nachmanides here, but we would also argue that this kind of prophetic pattern also applies to King Yaravam and the northern kingdom. That is, we believe if we know where to look, many remezim (“remezes”, or prophetic “hints”) can be seen here.
Returning to 1 Kings, Yaravam had a problem. He knew that if the people continued to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem three times a year (as the Torah says), their loyalty would soon return to the King Rehavam in Jerusalem—and then someone would kill him (Yaravam), and the people would go back to King Rehavam.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 12:26-27
26 And Yaravam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom may return to the house of David:
27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their master, Rehavam king of Judah, and they will kill me, and go back to Rehavam king of Judah.”
King Yaravam’s solution was parallel to the sin of the golden calf (except doubled). He set up centers of golden calf worship in Dan and Beit El (Bethel), thus changing the place of worship. He also established a new priesthood that was not of the sons of Levi, and pushed the Feast of Sukkot back a month (from the seventh month to the eighth). That is, he changed the object of worship, the place of worship, the time of worship, and the priesthood.
Melachim Aleph (1 Kings) 12:28-32
28 Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
29 And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.
31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
32 Yaravam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made.
If we are willing to receive it, Yaravam’s changes give us a prophetic shadow picture of what the replacement theology Roman Church would do hundreds of years later. For example, the Roman Church created a new faith (Catholicism) based loosely both on Judaism and Nazarene Israel (while being hostile to both). Rather than focus on an invisible Creator, the Catholics taught the adoration of visible symbols (e.g., crosses, figurines, and other icons) that are often based in the worship of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the host of heaven. They also moved the center of their faith from Jerusalem to Rome. Beyond this, they established a new Catholic priesthood that was not of the sons of Levi.
Just like King Yaravam had done, the Catholics also changed the times of worship. While King Yaravam pushed the Feast of Sukkot back from the seventh Hebrew month to the eighth, the Catholics would push the Shabbat back a day (to Sunday). They also pushed the Pesach back to Easter Sunday, and pushed Sukkot back even farther (to Christmas, four days after the winter solstice). All of the churches’ changes were made on account of the movements of the sun, the moon, and the stars (rather than Yahweh’s commands).
Point for point, the Roman (Esavite) Church echoed the sins of Yaravam—and this also gives us a clue as to why we should look for the Lost Ten Tribes to be lost inside of the church.
Mashiach ben Yosef Came For the Lost Tribes
Yahweh sent prophets like Hosea and Elijah (Eliyahu) to turn the northern kingdom back to Him and obey His Torah, but it was to no avail. After roughly a hundred and fifty years, Yahweh allowed the king of Assyria to come and take the northern tribes away into physical and spiritual captivity. It was a physical captivity because the Ephraimites were scattered amongst the Assyrians, and it was a spiritual captivity because over time they forgot that they were Ephraimites (or Israelites).
Melachim Bet (2 Kings) 18:11-12
11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they did not obey the voice of Yahweh their Elohim (God), but transgressed His covenant and all that Moshe the servant of Yahweh had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
In Nazarene Israel we show the prophecies that Yahweh would bring the Ephraimites back home to the Land of Israel one day from all the four corners of the earth, and restore their identities as the Lost Ten Tribes of the house of Israel (Joseph, Ephraim).
Hoshea (Hosea) 6:2
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
These were the captives Yeshua said that He came to set free, through a two-millennia-long multi-stage operation.
Luqa (Luke) 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of Yahweh is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the Good News to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of Yahweh….”
We do not have room in this short volume to explore it here, but there are at least three Mashiach (Messiah) roles in Scripture. Daniel 9:25 speaks of Mashiach Nagid (Messiah the Director, Messiah the Prince), who had to arrive before the destruction of the Second Temple in 3830 (70 CE). This is seen in that Daniel 9:26 tells us He was to be cut off (but not for Himself) before the destruction of the Second Temple.
Daniel 9:25-26
25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.”
While most Christians only understand one Mashiach role, the house of Judah understands two other Mashiach roles. One of the two other roles Judah understands is that of Mashiach ben Yosef (aka Mashiach ben Ephraim). According to Jewish thought, Mashiach ben Yosef recovers the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel from amongst the Christians and then goes on to lead them in battle against the enemies of Israel (i.e., Esav in Rome). According to Jewish thought, Mashiach ben Yosef dies in battle and is then allegedly succeeded by Mashiach ben David, who goes on to lead a restored-twelve-tribe Israel to victory in battle. (For those not familiar with the concept, please see Messiah ben Joseph, by David C. Mitchell.)
According to Judaism, both Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David are expected to be great military leaders—and this is one main reason why the Jews rejected Yeshua ben Yosef as Mashiach in the first century, is that they had expected a great military leader to throw off the Romans. However, what they did not realize is that Yeshua came on His first trip more as a military recruiter, to begin finding and mobilizing the Lost Ten Tribes for the great final battles that will come during the Tribulation, and Armageddon.
Yeshua said He was not sent on His first trip, except to begin regathering the lost sheep of the northern House of Israel (Joseph, Ephraim) for the coming final battles. In this, He came primarily in the roles of Mashiach Nagid and Mashiach ben Yosef.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 15:24
24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent [on this first trip] except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”
However, as we explain in Nazarene Israel, while Yeshua came primarily for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He also came for the great many Jews who went into the Assyrian Diaspora with the house of Israel. This happened because when the Assyrians came to take the northern ten tribes into captivity, they did not distinguish between Ephraimites and Jews. (That is, they did not stop at the border.) Rather, they invaded both the northern kingdom of Ephraim and the southern kingdom of Judah, taking many of the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity along with the whole of the house of Ephraim.
Further, when the Jews later went into the Exile to Babylon, only an approximate 10% ever came back home, and Yeshua ben Yosef came for them also. Therefore, there are many Jews who sojourn with the house of Ephraim—and this is why Yeshua’s apostles wrote their epistles to the lost and scattered of all twelve tribes of Israel.
Ya’akov (James) 1:1
1 Ya’akov, a bondservant of Elohim and of the Master Yeshua Messiah, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
Three Kinds of Gentiles: Greeks, Gerim and Goyim
First let us note that while Greek was widely spoken in the land of Israel, religious Jews still spoke Hebrew in Jerusalem in the first century. Hebrew was the revered religious language.
Ma’asei (Acts) 22:2a
2 And when they heard that he [Shaul] spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.
Let us also note that Yeshua and His disciples spoke Galilean Aramaic, which is a related Semitic language. Parts of the Tanach (Older Testament) are written in Aramaic, and it is often understood by Hebrew speakers.
Marqaus (Mark) 14:70
70 But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Kepha [Peter] again, “Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.”
These verses make no sense if everyone was speaking Greek. They only make sense if the people were speaking Hebrew and Aramaic—and if they were speaking Hebrew and Aramaic, then they were thinking in Hebrew and Aramaic (i.e., the languages of the Jews).
Now let us consider the saying that when a religious Jew reads the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant / New Testament), it is as if he is reading an entirely different book than the one the Gentile reads. Why? Because the same words often mean something different in a religious Jewish context than in a non-Jewish context. Two good examples of this are the words Greeks, and Gentiles. These words typically mean something very different to a religious Jew, than to a Gentile. Let us start with the term Greek.
To a Gentile, the term Greek typically means someone from Greece—and to be clear, it can mean this to a religious Jew also. However, in a religious Jewish context, the term Greek usually refers to someone who serves the Greek gods, or who adheres to Greek (or Hellenic) customs and traditions. To understand why this is, let us consider the history of Israel.
Alexander the Great was the King of Macedonia. He spoke Greek, and worshipped the Greek gods. He conquered Israel in 3428 (332 BCE), a few hundred years before Yeshua. After that, some of the Jews decided to abandon the Torah and the Jewish traditions in favor of Greek customs and traditions. We can see this in the apocryphal book 1 Maccabees.
1 Maccabees 1:11-15 [NRSVUE]
11 In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, “Let us go and make a covenant with the nations around us, for since we separated from them many disasters have come upon us.”
12 This proposal pleased them,
13 and some of the people eagerly went to the king, who authorized them to observe the ordinances of the nations.
14 So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the customs of the nations,
15 and made foreskins for themselves, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the nations and sold themselves to do evil.
Those Jews who abandoned the Torah and the Hebrew ways in favor of Greek ways became known as Greek Jews (or Hellenists). They were genetically Jewish, and yet they sought to practice the Greek ways (i.e., the ways of the nations) rather than His Torah. While they may (or may not) have been Jewish in their own minds, in Yahweh’s eyes they were only quasi-Israelites, because they were no longer committed to His covenant. While they were not exactly estranged from the nation, in some ways they were Gentiles. If we are willing to receive it, this is parallel to the Reform (or Reconstructionist) Jews of today.
It surprises some Christians that the Brit Chadasha seems to place more value on reaching Torah-observant Jews (i.e., Jews) than on Greeks (i.e., Reform). However, the Good News is directed first to Torah-observant Jews first, and then also to the Greeks (Reform). This may show the importance Yahweh places on obeying His full covenant.
Romim (Romans) 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Mashiach, for it is the power of Elohim to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
But if the term Greeks refers to genetic Jews who seek to keep Gentile ways, then what of the term Gentiles?
It surprises many Gentiles to learn that there are two different kinds of gentiles in Hebraic thought: goyim and gerim. A goy is someone who (at least hypothetically) has never been part of the nation of Israel (and who may even hate Israel). In contrast, a ger is someone who used to belong to the nation of Israel, but has become estranged from the nation (like the Lost Ten Tribes of the house of Israel became estranged from the nation). We discuss this topic in more detail in Nazarene Israel.
Many Christians believe that Kepha (Peter) wrote his epistles to goyim (true gentiles)—but did he really? Let us notice that he addresses his epistle to the “strangers” (gerim) of the Assyrian Dispersion. That is, he is writing to the Lost Ten Tribes of the northern house of Israel who were taken away into physical and spiritual captivity in Assyria, and who had lost their identities as Israelites over time, but who were prophesied to be called back to the nation one day.
Kepha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:1
1 Kepha, an apostle of Yeshua Messiah, to the strangers of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia….
With this in mind, now let us try reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son with the idea that the Father is Yahweh, the older brother is the southern house of Judah, and the younger brother is the northern house of Ephraim, who broke away from the house of Judah, and who failed to keep the Torah, and was thus taken into the physical and spiritual captivity in Assyria (where he ultimately lost his identity as an Israelite).
Luqa (Luke) 15:11-32
11 Then He said: “A certain man [Yahweh] had two sons [Judah and Ephraim].
12 And the younger of them [Ephraim] said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood [the kingdom].
13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country [Assyria], and there wasted his possessions with prodigal [wasteful] living in the Dispersion.
14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine [of spiritual food] in that land, and he began to be in want.
15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country [the Church], and he sent him into his fields to feed swine [idols].
16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have [spiritual] bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”‘
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe [Joseph’s coat] and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother [Ephraim] has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28 “But he [Judah] was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.
29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.
30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots [the Roman Church system], you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have [i.e., the Torah and the land] is yours.
32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'”
If you want to know more, please read the Nazarene Israel study (and all of our studies)—but do not make the mistake of stopping at reading, or gathering knowledge. As we explain in all of our studies, the Messiah has work that He wants us to do for Him as a corporate body—and it is up to us to do it, if we want our reward. Our reward will be based on what we did with what we know.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 22:12
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”
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We thank Yahweh Elohim for your love for His kingdom.
