Would Huzoor kindly explain to us the origin of the 12 tribes of Israel, what caused them to leave Palestine, and also kindly advise us of the approximate period when they left Palestine for other parts of the world? Instead of relating the whole history, I’ll only attend to the essentials of this question. First of all, let me make it clear that the term Israelites has a very special, limited meaning. It is generally confused with all the tribes of Israel. It is wrong.
The fact is that the first of all, let me go further back, the term Israel is derived from a name given to Hazrat Yaqub, Jacob, by Allah. An incident is related in the Bible which apparently is so absurd, but as we understand the Bible, we consider it to be a very significant vision of Hazrat Jacob, not that it physically took place, it might have been a vision of Hazrat Jacob, whereby Allah was teaching him to wrestle for his cause against the enemies. But the Christians and Jews generally don’t interpret it in this sensible manner. Many among them really believe that one night, for the whole night, God personified himself and came to wrestle with Jacob, his prophet, peace be upon him.
And the whole night, neither God could defeat him nor he could defeat Jacob. So then, in praise of his prowess and great adventure, he was entitled Israel. So the sons of Jacob, from then on, are supposed to be Israelites. But Israelites, as I will explain further, ultimately are known to be certain people among the Jews, and some others, although they were also the sons of Jacob, were not called Israelites. But of that later.
Now I refer to your question, the tribes and when they were expelled from Palestine. In fact, this is a distorted history, concept of history, that every tribe of Israel was in Palestine. This is wrong. They occupied a much larger area. Out of the twelve tribes, the Jewish kingdom was divided into two parts, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom comprised ten tribes. The lost sheep of Israel, the ten tribes, they in fact never occupied Palestine. This Palestine belonged to the region which is called Judea. And in Judea, only two tribes had settled and they were the rulers of that region.
So while Judea remained intact, Assyrians attacked the northern kingdom of Jews and those ten tribes were defeated totally and dispersed. And that happened about 720-21 years before Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. So that is the main scattering of the Jewish tribes to which we refer generally, as the lost sheep of Israel, those who were scattered into various regions. So their history from then on cannot be traced in detail. You know, history in those days was not preserved like in the present day. So I can only give you the most important landmarks. This is one landmark which is important and which should be remembered by Ahmadis because if somebody asks a counter question to you, who are the lost tribes who don’t know and nothing happened and this and that, so you can tell them.
According to your own history, positively all scholars are agreed on this issue. That the ten tribes of Israel who occupied and made the northern kingdom up beyond Judea in the northern regions, they were attacked by Assyrians and they were defeated and dispersed and from then on they went, took their own direction, you know, some district got to the east, some to the west and so on and so forth. And the people who lived in Judea, they were also attacked by Nebuchadnezzar once and by others as well at their various times. So part of those Jews who had occupied this region, they also got dispersed. Now the term Israelites can be loosely applied to all these.
But originally the northern tribes were called Israelites, not the southern tribes. To begin with, although the term was a common heritage of all children of Jacob, but first of all this is very interesting that just the northern people of the northern kingdom, the ten tribes, they were called Israelites and these were not called Israelites. But later on, after a passage of time, this term again occupied a larger sphere and they were also included among the Israelites. But still, even up to now, the sons of Joshua, the son of Aaron, the offsprings of Yusha Bin Nun and Bani Lavi, Levites, what are they called in English? Levites or something? They are not called Israelites. They still hold their distinct position among the Jews.
And the term Israel, Israelites, does not cover them. Not because they are understood to be less than the Jews, but because they are understood to be above the rest of the Jews. For instance, even today, if some Jewish rabbi is reading Torah and any direct descendant of Yusha Bin Nun or other Levites, one of them comes, immediately he would cease to recite Torah in his presence and he would be given that position of, a very special position of recitation. And they are held in high esteem even today. So the term Israelites still does not include them, while they are also the sons of Jacob. So that is what is important for you to understand. The rest of the history is a long affair. You can have access to history books and read out yourself.
