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The 12 Tribes of Israel existed as one nation for many years in ancient history. This article explains why the 12 Tribes of Israel split into two kingdoms and what happened to them.
What is a nation? Dictionaries provide several definitions, one of which explains it as “a tribe or federation of tribes.” Under this usage, we can recognize that the “nation of Israel” existed long before the modern State of Israel and even before their first king in ancient biblical times. The nation of Israel is a people group composed of descendants from the 12 Tribes of Israel or the 12 sons of the man named Israel. Israel was Abraham’s grandson, given the name Jacob at birth but whose name God changed to Israel later in life.
The children of Israel who left Egypt in the Exodus wandered the wilderness for 40 years before God directed them to enter and possess the Promised Land. To the people already in the Land, the children of Israel were considered a nation. They were a distinct people group with their own system of governance, though it wasn’t a democracy, republic, or monarchy. Israel was a theocracy. For about 400 years, they were governed by God, who led them through His designated representatives – first Moses, then Joshua, and followed by the judges and the prophets.
The Kingdom of Israel
In the 11th century B.C.E., the people asked Samuel the prophet to appoint a king to rule over them so they could be like other nations around them. God permitted it and led Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. David followed after him and David’s son Solomon was the third king of a united Israel. For the most part, the kingdom of Israel stood as a single nation for the 120 years that Saul, David, and Solomon reigned.
Why the 12 Tribes Split
In his later years, Solomon had brought idolatry into Israel, building altars to the false gods of his foreign wives. God told the king that He would tear the kingdom from his family, starting with his son.
Solomon had given authority over his laborers to a servant named Jeroboam, a skilled worker and respected man. The prophet Ahijah visited Jeroboam with a prophecy. He took his cloak, tore it into 12 pieces, and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.’” When Solomon heard of it, he tried to kill Jeroboam. (See 1 Kings 11:29–40.)
Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, took the throne after his father’s death. Jeroboam and “the whole assembly of Israel” went to him with an offer: Ease the heavy burden of labor your father put on us, and we will serve you as our king. Instead of trusting the elder statesmen of his father’s kingdom, Rehoboam trusted his childhood friends’ advice and threatened to increase the burden dramatically. The people revolted, sparking the division of the kingdom.
The people of Israel made Jeroboam their king, and Rehoboam ruled over Judah for two years until his assassination. Thus began centuries of separate kingdoms ruled by different kings.
Two Kingdoms: Israel and Judah
The Kingdom of Israel, also called the Northern Kingdom, consisted of 10 tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, Dan, Asher, Naphtali and Gad. The two remaining tribes, Judah and Benjamin, took the name of the larger of them and became known as the Kingdom of Judah.
The Lost Tribes of Israel
In 722 B.C.E., Assyria invaded and conquered Israel, scattering its 10 tribes, who never again lived as one people. In 586 B.C.E., Babylon conquered Judah, taking the brightest, strongest and most skilled into captivity.
The Assyrians practiced a shrewd strategy when they conquered a nation. They shifted populations around their empire to quickly extinguish former national and cultural identities, absorbing them as subjects without hope of returning to their former lives and lands as independent people. So, when Assyria invaded Israel, they took captive and relocated the people of Israel throughout the vast empire. With this invasion, any recorded history of the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel as a nation ended.
In both invasions, however, some managed to escape. Those who dispersed traveled north, east and south to other places, including China, India, and Africa. Between the captivities and scatterings, the people of Israel seemed to disappear entirely from history and, over time, acquired the name “the Lost Tribes of Israel.” But, they have never been lost to themselves. Throughout the centuries, these groups have maintained their Jewish identities, traditions and worship. In the last 75 years, they have been discovered living throughout the world, some in very remote places.[MP1] [MP2] [JC3]
Related:
Who Are the Lost Tribes of Israel?
Where Did the Lost Tribes of Israel Go?
What Are the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel?
What Does the Bible Say about the Lost Tribes of Israel?
