# Ten Lost Tribes of Israel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 29, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833 "2001-11-29T02:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MHand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@MHand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MHand)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/1 "2001-11-29T02:19:26Z")
This staff report describes the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtentribes.html) After describing many theories as to the current location of their descendants, this staff report adds: > [@](#): > > Needless to say, these theories are purely speculative, and without historic (or Biblical) foundation. But this article claims to show what looks like reasonable physical, cultural, linguistical, and biblical evidence that the Pathani tribes of Afghanistan might be their descendants: [http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask329.htm#Q1](http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask329.htm#Q1) Comments? ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/2 "2001-11-29T02:51:13Z")
The Staff Report tells you all you need to know. There is also a theory that [the English-speaking people are one of the lost tribes.](http://www.losttribes.org/History/maproom.htm) There are a lot of loons out there 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/3 "2001-11-29T22:06:47Z")
MHand, you asked for comments, so I shall. The report to which you provided a link has the following “evidence”: 1. - Some rabbi claims he once heard the Afghan King claim to be from the tribe of Benjamin. Another rabbi claims he once heard the king’s father make a similar claim. \*Dex comments:\*I mean, please. If you can find an Afghani king from around 500 BC or so claiming to be an Benjamite, that would be one thing. An assertion by 20th or 21st Century persons about their ancestry means nothing, even if we had a first-hand statement by the Afghan king. The website you linked to doesn’t even provide that. 1. - Some Afghan names and tribal names seem to be similar to some Israelite names. _Dex comments:_ Yeah, and so do some English names and some Swedish names and some Philippino names. This means only that Biblical names are fairly widespread – and remember that Islamic culture accepts the Old Testament and New Testament as part of the religion. I could make a similar case for Pennsylvania, with Israelite tribal names such as Levittown (Levi), Danville (Dan), Ashley (Asher), Robertsdale (Rueben) etc. The question that is not even asked is WHEN those Afghan tribes took on their names. If the answer is after 800 AD or so, then the tribes may well have adopted the names of Israelite tribes after they converted to Islam. Or, as with Pennsylvania, it could just be coincidental. 1. - Some Afghans don’t shave their beards. _Dex comments:_ Of all of Jewish tradition, this is the only one in common? Give me a break. Some sects of Islam, like some sects of Judaism, and like the Amish, do not shave. Big hairy deal, so to speak. 4. - There are tombstones with Jewish-sounding names scattered around Afghanistan. _Dex comments:_ Heck, up until the last 50 years or so, there were JEWS scattered around Afghanistan, too. So? In short, MHand, I see nothing in this website that looks like “physical, cultural, linguistical, and biblical evidence.” ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/4 "2001-11-29T22:34:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > \*\*MHand, you asked for comments, so I shall. The report to which you provided a link has the following “evidence”: > > 1. > - Some rabbi claims he once heard the Afghan King claim to be from the tribe of Benjamin. Another rabbi claims he once heard the king’s father make a similar claim. > > \*\* To further help make Dex’s case, Benjamin was **not** one of the lost tribes. There were 10 lost tribes; the two that were not lost were Judah and Benjamin. Thus this “Afghani King” can’t claim to be from a lost tribe and be a member of Benjamin. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/5 "2001-11-30T02:01:09Z")
Errr… I always understood it to be Judah and Simeon. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/6 "2001-11-30T05:43:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*Errr… I always understood it to be Judah and Simeon. \*\* No. Judah and Benjamin. Mordechai, a Benjaminite, is a prominent figure in the Purim story (book of Esther) long after the Ten tribes were exiled. The city of Jerusalem was divided between Judah and Benjamin. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/7 "2001-11-30T15:11:38Z")
It’s in the Staff Report. > [@](#): > > In the south, the kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital, consisting of the territory of the tribes of Judah and (most of) Benjamin. Much of the priestly tribe of Levi, affiliated with the Temple, also lived in the southern kingdom. > > \ > > In the year 722 BC, Sargon II, King of the Assyrian Empire, completed the conquest of the northern kingdom. Most of the population of Israel was led into exile. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/8 "2001-11-30T16:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*It’s in the Staff Report. > > > [@](#): > > > > In the south, the kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital, consisting of the territory of the tribes of Judah and (most of) Benjamin. Much of the priestly tribe of Levi, affiliated with the Temple, also lived in the southern kingdom. > > > > \ > > > > In the year 722 BC, Sargon II, King of the Assyrian Empire, completed the conquest of the northern kingdom. Most of the population of Israel was led into exile. > > \*\* That’s what I get for just butting in without reading the report. 🙂 Thank you **Duck Duck Goose**. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ten-lost-tribes-of-israel/95833/9 "2001-12-03T13:32:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John W. Kennedy \* > \*\*Errr… I always understood it to be Judah and Simeon. \*\* IIRC, well before the time of the Assyrians, the tribe of Simeon was pretty much absorbed into the tribe of Judah anyway.