From: theadvancedmarketinggroup@gmail.com   
      
   "Thus, the "10 tribes" appears to be a misnomer, meaning all of the Israelites   
   that were living outside the Kingdom of Judah."   
      
   The Ten Lost Tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said   
   to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the   
   Neo-Assyrian Empire c. 722 BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan,   
   Naphtali, Gad, Asher,    
   Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim; all but Judah and Benjamin (as well   
   as some members of Levi, the priestly tribe, which did not have its own   
   territory). However, since the tribe of Simeon lived well within the territory   
   of Judah, it is not clear    
   why this tribe was never included in this list (or as a part of the northern   
   kingdom of the 10 tribes). Also, the tribes of Asher and Reuben were never   
   mentioned as participating in anything after the conquest, living in either   
   Phoenician (Asher) or    
   Moabite (Reuben) controlled territory. By the middle 9th century BCE the   
   territory of Gad was also (re)taken by the Moabites (see Mesha Stele), so the   
   Assyrians could at most have removed the other six tribes. Thus, the "10   
   tribes" appears to be a    
   misnomer, meaning all of the Israelites that were living outside the Kingdom   
   of Judah. The Jewish historian Josephus (37–100 CE) wrote that "there are   
   but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes   
   are beyond Euphrates    
   till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers".   
      
   In the 7th and 8th centuries CE, the return of the lost tribes was associated   
   with the concept of the coming of the messiah: 58–62  Claims of descent   
   from the "lost tribes" have been proposed in relation to many groups, and some   
   religions espouse a    
   messianic view that the tribes will return.   
      
   According to contemporary research, the Transjordan and the Galilee did   
   witness large-scale deportations, and entire tribes were lost. Historians have   
   generally concluded that the deported tribes assimilated into the local   
   population. In Samaria, on the    
   other hand, many Israelites survived the Assyrian onslaught and remained in   
   the land, eventually forming the Samaritan community. However, this has not   
   stopped various religions from asserting that some survived as distinct   
   entities. Zvi Ben-Dor Benite,    
   a professor of Middle Eastern history, states: "The fascination with the   
   tribes has generated, alongside ostensibly nonfictional scholarly studies, a   
   massive body of fictional literature and folktale."  Anthropologist Shalva   
   Weil has documented various    
   differing tribes and peoples claiming affiliation to the Lost Tribes   
   throughout the world.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)