The Ten Lost Tribes, The Samaritans, & The Judean Conflict

Hear, O Yisrael! Awake from the dust of gross darkness, you children of the Covenant! Cast your gaze upon the mountain of decision. Who do you serve? We do not just observe history—we are standing on the precipice of our own souls! How deeply must a heart be broken before it finally sees that the GOD of all power cannot be shared with the gods of no power? Today, we journey back to a time of conflict and ruin, of empires clashing, and a people torn apart. We will uncover the tragic fate of Israel’s ten lost tribes, witness the surprising birth of the Samaritans, and see how the very destruction of a nation forged a new, resilient faith. This is the rarely told story of identity, betrayal, and enduring covenant.

The Question: Did the Jews steal our culture, our way of life, and our name?

The statement that many of our brothers and sisters strongly believe is: The Jews stole our culture! My answer to that statement is No!! Hell, no, the jews didn’t steal our culture. Nothing about that culture can be found or substantiated in the holy scriptures. A telltale sign is that they don’t call themselves the children of Israel or Hebrews. They call themselves jews; their language is yiddish, their god is Hashem, Adonai, YAHWEH, etc. Adonai means "My Lord," Hashem means "The Name," and Yahweh (or YHWH) is the four-letter personal name of God that traditional Judaism avoids pronouncing. A Hebrew brother did a deep dive into YHWH-the four letter tetragrammaton and found that the jews, of course, added the WH to GOD’S name and that makes sense because Psalms 68:4 declares: ““Sing unto GOD!  Sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name YAH, and rejoice before him.” Now, what about that verse that our people don’t understand. The jews are in idolatry and so are you because they have mixed GOD-worship with idolatry. This is called syncretism. Also, their sabbath starts at night. They call the night day, their new year is in September/October. Their months are Babylonian in origin, their bible is the Talmud, and the Talmud supersedes the word of GOD. They have a jewish star-the star of death Hitler had them wear and now some of our ignorant brothers and sisters wear this sign of death and don’t be surprised if you aren’t quickly marked for death, my brothers. Why you say that Morah Bahtshevah? Jeremiah 10:2 profoundly declares: “YAH says: “Do not start following pagan religious practices.” (3) “For the religion of these people is worthless.” You want to follow pagans then you accept the same fate as these pagan nations. We don’t research anything; just follow heathen practices wholeheartedly! Nowhere in the Holy Scriptures has the Most High ever given any nation His laws. In fact, He doesn’t know them. Then why would any Hebrew look to them for guidance, knowledge of GOD’S laws, or any spiritual insight? The wisdom of GOD is not in them. Psalms 147:19-20:; “He proclaims His word to Jacob, His statutes and regulations to Israel.” (20) “He has not done so with any other nation; they are not aware of His regulations.” What about these verses that our people don’t understand!! All these torah-based Hebrews who call themselves jewish, black jews, Hebrew Israelites, Israelites, etc. and you follow judaism instead of the Torah, then you are no better than the messianic Hebrews. The only difference is their idol is the cross and your idol is the hexagram or jewish star. They wear a cross around their necks and torah-based Hebrews wear a jewish star around theirs!! The jewish star identifies the Cult of Judaism and the cross identifies the Cult of Christianity. I bet you don’t like that analogy!! Our people are lost; following the ways of the nations!!

1. The Great Division: From Unity to Ruin

The United Kingdom of Israel was no more almost immediately following the death of King Solomon.

Solomon's son, Rehoboam, foolishly rejected the elders' counsel to lighten the heavy taxation burden imposed by his father. This defiance spurred a decisive break (1 Kings 12:1–19):

• Northern Kingdom (Israel): Ten tribes rejected Rehoboam (Reuben, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh). Its political capital was eventually Samaria.
• Southern Kingdom (Judah): The remaining two tribes, Judah and Benjamin (along with the tribe of Levi), remained loyal, retaining Jerusalem as its spiritual and political capital.

2. Israel’s Spiritual Ruin and the Fatal Treachery

The spiritual decay of the Northern Kingdom sealed its doom.

The Catastrophic Sin

The first king of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam I, feared that his people would return their allegiance to Judah if they continued to make pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem. To secure his power, he established new centers of worship at Bethel and Dan, setting up golden calves and declaring: "Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12:28-30). This deliberate reintroduction of the Mount Sinai idolatry sealed the kingdom's spiritual fate.

The Broken Reed Prophecy

Generations later, facing the rising Neo-Assyrian Empire, the last king, Hoshea, compounded the spiritual apostasy with political treachery by seeking a military alliance with Egypt. The Prophet Isaiah repeatedly condemned this policy, using the powerful metaphor of Egypt as a "broken reed" (Isaiah 30:1-7; 2 Kings 18:21). Leaning on a weak human power, instead of YAH, guaranteed no stability and would only pierce the hand of the one who trusted it. This reliance on the nations was a profound failure of faith.

3. The Assyrian Conquest and the Lost Tribes

The Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 911–609 BCE), the most brutal and efficient war machine the ancient world had ever seen, acted as the instrument of divine judgment against Israel's rebellion and idolatry (2 Kings 17:7-23).

The Final Collapse

The Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722/721 BCE. Following the three-year siege initiated by Shalmaneser V, his successor, Sargon II, captured Samaria. This conquest led to the deportation of 27,290 Hebrew captives into exile, who were taken to "Halah, Habor, by the River Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes" (2 Kings 17:6).

The Fate of the Ten Lost Tribes

The Assyrian deportation was strategic:

1. Removing the Elite: The Assyrians removed the landowners, craftsmen, priests, and military leaders, paralyzing the remaining population and destroying any chance for organized resistance.
2. Absorption and Scattering: The majority of the deported Hebrews were scattered and eventually absorbed (assimilated) into the local populations of the Assyrian Empire. Without their spiritual infrastructure, their distinct Hebrew identity slowly eroded through intermarriage and the adoption of local customs. While they are "lost" to history as a cohesive unit, they are not lost to GOD and the prophets maintain the promise of a future regathering (Isaiah 11:10-11).

4. The Birth of the Samaritans: Syncretism and the Lions

The Assyrian policy was to remove the native population and replace them with various groups from across their vast empire to create a new, compliant melting pot.

Resettlement and Spiritual Crisis

The Assyrian king settled groups from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim in the desolate Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 17:24). 

These groups brought a wildly diverse collection of gods and customs to the former Northern Kingdom of Israel. This religious blend (syncretism) is the key to understanding the deep historical conflict with the returning Judeans.

Nation/City	Biblical Location	Ancestral Line of Noah (Genesis 10)
Babylon (Babel)	Mesopotamia/Shinar	Ham (through Cush and Nimrod)
Cuthah (Kutha)	Mesopotamia/Babylonia	Ham (as part of the Babylonian region)
Hamath	Syria/Canaan	Ham (through Canaan)
Sepharvaim	Mesopotamia (most commonly cited)	Ham (as part of the Babylonian region)
Avva (or Ivvah)	Syria/Near East (Uncertain)	Unspecified, but likely Ham or Shem  (due to location)

These diverse nations brought their own pagan deities:

Origin	Key Deity(ies)	Practice
Babylon	Marduk, Nabu	Sophisticated Mesopotamian cult.
Cuthah	Nergal	God of the underworld and plague.
Hamath	Ashima	Fertility/Aramean goddess.
Sepharvaim	Adrammelech, Anammelech	Child sacrifice (2  Kings 17:31).

The Catalyst of the Lions

A strange and terrifying thing occurred: lions, whose numbers had dwindled, began attacking the new immigrants (2 Kings 17:25). The immigrants interpreted this as the wrath of the local deity, the "GOD of the land," who demanded acknowledgement.

The Assyrian king's solution was pragmatic: he sent an exiled Hebrew priest back to teach the new inhabitants "the law of the GOD of the land" (2 Kings 17:27).

The Result: Syncretism

This led to the religious blend that defined the Samaritans: the new settlers feared YAH but also served their own carved images (2 Kings 17:41). They added YAH-worship to their existing pagan pantheon. The remaining, non-deported Hebrews soon intermarried with these foreign groups, creating a mixed, syncretistic population known as the Samaritans.

5. The Judean Conflict: The Covenantal Defense

Centuries later, when the Judeans returned from the Babylonian Exile, they viewed the Samaritans as religiously impure due to their mixed ancestry and syncretistic worship—the very spiritual disease that had led to their own exile.

Led by Ezra and Nehemiah, the returning Judeans emphatically rejected the Samaritan offer to help rebuild the Temple and the walls, stating: "You have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem" (Nehemiah 2:20; Ezra 4:3). This was a covenantal defense mechanism: a desperate attempt to seal the nation against the relapse into idolatry that had destroyed the North. This schism cemented the lasting hostility between Judeans and Samaritans, a division born of a tragic history of spiritual compromise and the pursuit of purity.

Deepening the Divide: Later Conflicts with the Samaritans

The initial refusal by Zerubbabel and later by Nehemiah (Ezra 4:3; Nehemiah 2:20) escalated the Samaritan reaction from offering "help" to outright, malicious hostility and sabotage.

1. The Sabotage of the Wall (Nehemiah's Conflict)

The opposition led by Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab was relentless and systematically designed to stop Nehemiah's rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls:

• Armed Intimidation (Nehemiah 4:7-8): When the wall was nearing completion, Sanballat and his allies were enraged. They conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and create confusion. Nehemiah had to arm the workers and station guards ("Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built" - Nehemiah 4:18). This hostility forced the Judeans to split their efforts between building and defense.
• The Lure of Treachery (Nehemiah 6:1-9): They repeatedly attempted to lure Nehemiah out of Jerusalem under the pretense of holding a peace conference in the plain of Ono. Nehemiah correctly refused, recognizing their intent to murder him. When that failed, Sanballat sent an open letter containing false accusations of rebellion (claiming Nehemiah intended to crown himself king) to intimidate the Jews and force Nehemiah to compromise his mission.
• Hiring False Prophets (Nehemiah 6:10-14): They hired a Hebrew mercenary, the prophet Shemaiah, to trick Nehemiah into taking refuge inside the Temple. If Nehemiah had done this out of fear, it would have been an act of sacrilege, compromising his authority and faith. The plot was designed to make him sin and give the Samaritans a basis to discredit the entire project.

2. The Final Separation: The Temple on Mount Gerizim

The ultimate, permanent physical and spiritual split occurred a century later, solidifying the two groups as rivals.

• The High Priestly Compromise: As recorded by the Hebrew historian Josephus (and referenced in Nehemiah), a grandson of the High Priest Eliashib, named Manasseh, married Sanballat's daughter. This marriage into the family of their chief adversary was a grievous offense to the returning exiles.
• Expulsion and Schism (Nehemiah 13:28): Nehemiah, upon his final return to Jerusalem, forcibly drove Manasseh out of the city and away from the priesthood, purifying the line: "Therefore I drove him out from me" (Nehemiah 13:28).
• Rival Temple Construction: This expelled priest, Manasseh, then fled to Samaria. With the backing of his father-in-law, Sanballat, he helped construct a rival temple on Mount Gerizim (near the Samaritan capital). This act confirmed the permanent schism, as the Samaritans now had their own religious center, challenging the singular authority of the Temple in Jerusalem.

6. Modern Day Names & Locations of the Ten Lost Tribes

These ancient regions correspond to the following modern-day nations and geographical areas:

Ancient Name       Modern Location

Assyria Primarily Northern Iraq, Southeastern Turkey, and Northeastern Syria.

Egypt Egypt (Lower Egypt).

Pathros Upper Egypt (southern part of Egypt).

Cush Sudan, South Sudan, and parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Elam Primarily Southwestern Iran (in the region of Khuzestan).

Shinar The region of Babylonia in Southern Iraq.

Hamath Syria, specifically centered around the modern city of Hama.

The Seacoasts  Generally refers to the Mediterranean Coastlands or distant maritime regions.

*These names often refer to broad geographical or cultural regions whose borders do not precisely align with modern nation-states.

The Eternal Shadow: A Covenant Conclusion 

The story of the Ten Lost Tribes, the Samaritans, and the Judean Conflict is a profound, tragic narrative culminating in the irreversible schism in ancient Israel. It is the ultimate, awe-inspiring warning against divided loyalty and spiritual compromise.

The fall of the North to the Assyrian Empire was the physical expression of a long-standing spiritual disease—the nation had perfected the ways of the heathens, choosing golden calves and foreign alliances (the "broken reed") over the faithful protection of YAH. Their consequent scattering and absorption into the Assyrian world sealed their fate as the "Ten Lost Tribes."

The Samaritans, born from a mix of the remaining Hebrews and foreign settlers from Babylon, Cuthah, and Hamath, became a constant, agonizing reminder of that initial failure. Their religion was defined by syncretism—fearing YAH yet serving their idols (2 Kings 17:41)—a result forced by the very lions of the land demanding recognition of the territory's true Owner.

The furious rejection of Samaritan aid by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah—and the ultimate expulsion of the High Priest's grandson, Manasseh, which led to the building of the rival temple on Mount Gerizim—was not mere political strife. It was a covenantal defense mechanism. The returning Judean exiles, chastened by seventy years of captivity, knew they had to safeguard the purity of the Torah and the Temple's unique authority in Jerusalem.

The deep conflict, fueled by the relentless sabotage efforts of Sanballat and Tobiah, created an unbridgeable chasm. The Samaritans became the eternal shadow of Israel’s apostasy, a visible reminder of what happens when a people chooses the lure of idolatry over the demands of exclusive covenant freedom. The schism they created endures as the definitive proof that spiritual compromise does not bring peace; it only brings division, loss, and the tragic return of the very diseases you thought you had escaped.

I hope this blog post has been helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Shalom qodesh qadasheem - the “set apart ones.”