Ten ‘Lost’ Tribes of IsraEl

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Over the centuries, many things have been written about what may have happened to the ten tribes of IsraEl that were carried away as captives by the King of Assyria. One religious group once speculated that they became the natives of Great Britain, while another religion teaches that they came to the Americas.

Of course, both of these theories have been proven untrue by archeology and by genetic research.
But such teachings still continue.

So, what really happened to the ten ‘lost’ tribes?
The Bible tells us clearly;
For at 2 Kings 17:6, we read:

‘Then the king of Assyria captured Samaria and moved all the people of IsraEl into Assyria – to Alae-Abor, along the Gozan River, and into the mountains of the Medes.’

Notice that this location is in and around the lands of Persia and modern-day Iraq.
For there is a river in NW Iran named the Qezel Ozan, which is thought to be the Gozan.
And it is a tributary to Phison or Pishon (today the Sephid-Rud) that once flowed through the land of Edem (Eden).

How long did they stay there?
The account at 1 Chronicles 5:26 says:

‘So the God of IsraEl caused the spirit of Pul, the king of Assyria (who was also known as Tiglath-Pileser) to become enraged with them, and he sent fifty-thousand men that relocated [the tribes of] Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of ManasSeh.
He moved them to Chalak, Mabor, and along the Gozan River, where they still are today.’

So since it is believed that the Chronicles were written by Ezra after Judah’s repatriation from Babylon (c. 560-BCE); It can be clearly seen that the ten tribes were still living in Northern Persia by the 6th Century BCE. And in fact, recent genetic research indicates that the Kurds of Northern Iran are likely the descendants of those ten tribes (who are still living in that same place).

Note that one Bible book, Nahum, appears to have been written from the Kurdish area of Iran (then Assyria) after IsraEl’s deportation in the Eighth Century BCE.