All about the ancient tribes
The descendants of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin have survived as Jews because they were allowed to return to their homeland after the Babylonian Exile of 586 bc.
Judea or Judaea, and the modern version of Judah (/dʒuːˈdiːə/; from Hebrew: יהודה, Standard Yəhūda, Tiberian Yehūḏā, Greek: Ἰουδαία, Ioudaía; Latin: Iūdaea) is the ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous southern part of the region of Israel.
The tribe of Judah settled in the region south of Jerusalem and in time became the most powerful and most important tribe.
Conquered by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser V, they were exiled to upper Mesopotamia and Medes, today modern Syria and Iraq. The Ten Tribes of Israel have never been seen since.
Ten Lost Tribes Reuben. Simeon. Levi. Judah. Dan. Naphtali. Gad. Asher.
On the succession of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, around 930 BCE, the biblical account reports that the country split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south.
The name Judaea is still used to describe approximately the same area in modern Israel.
The current nation of Israel is still largely made up of the original southern kingdom of Judah, while the tribes of the northern kingdom remain scattered.
You may well be aware of the New Testament parable of the good Samaritan. But you probably don’t know that there are around 800 ancient Israelite Samaritans still living today.
To the tribe of Judah was assigned the most honourable station in the camp, in the east, before the entrance to the Tabernacle, and under its standard the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun pitched their tents. The colour of this banner was crimson or scarlet.
In Matthew 1:1–6 and Luke 3:31–34 of the New Testament, Jesus is described as a member of the tribe of Judah by lineage. Revelation 5:5 also mentions an apocalyptic vision of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The Lion of Judah is a prominent symbol in the Rastafari movement. It represents Emperor Haile Selassie I as well as being a symbol of strength, kingship, pride and African sovereignty.
Book of Revelation The selection of the twelve tribes does not include the names of Ephraim and Dan, although their names were used for the twelve tribes that settled in the Promised Land. It has been suggested that this could be because of their pagan practices.
The Thirteenth Tribe is a 1976 book by Arthur Koestler, in which the author advances the thesis that Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from the historical Israelites of antiquity, but from Khazars, a Turkic people. The Thirteenth Tribe.
First UK edition | |
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Author | Arthur Koestler |
Language | English |
Subject | Khazar Empire |
Publisher | Hutchinson |
The Twelve Tribes of Israel.