Many Branches, One Root? What the Evidence Can and Cannot Show About Israel's Split Descendants
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In short
The Hebrew Bible says Israel was carried away into exile in Assyria, and it blames the people's persistent disobedience, including idol worship and child sacrifice 4551. Afterward, the Assyrian king settled people from Babylon and other places in the cities of Samaria, and only the tribe of Judah was left 4850. The Samaritan Pentateuch was created around 127 BC at the latest 39. The Muratorian Fragment lists New Testament books, and it rejects letters to the Laodiceans and Alexandrians as forgeries written in Paul's name 1147. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found near Khirbet Qumran in 1946 29, and fragments offered by a shepherd in 1947 turned out to be the first of them 36. Today, the source says the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel went through an original exile and were later dispersed, but it does not say where they went 44.
Exile, Gerizim and Ebal
The Hebrew Bible's account of the northern kingdom says that Israel was carried away from its land into exile in Assyria, and it describes this as lasting up to the time of writing 45. It names the cause as persistent disobedience, including idol worship, child sacrifice through fire, and following the practices of Jeroboam 51. According to the same text, the king of Assyria settled people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites 48, and only the tribe of Judah was left 50.
One author argues that the site of Abraham's sacrifice is the natural altar on the summit of Mount Gerizim rather than Mount Moriah in Jerusalem 60.
Abraham's Two Sons in the Texts
The text specifies that the everlasting covenant is established with Isaac, not Ishmael, even though Ishmael is also blessed 70. The circumcision command extends beyond Abraham's biological seed to people born in his house or bought with money from a foreigner who is not of his seed 73, and an uncircumcised male who breaks the covenant is cut off from his people 78. The prophet Jeremiah 33:26 says God will not reject the seed of Jacob and David, and will choose rulers from among them over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob 71. That verse names particular lines of Abraham's descendants as the ones God will restore, but it does not mention gentiles or circumcision 71.
Rabbinic readers also worked on the question of who counts as an heir. One commentary explaining Rabbi Akiva's ruling says it applies only to the generation that was exiled, while their children and later descendants do merit a portion in the land 46. For gentiles, the evidence describes the Noahide laws as the original covenant God made with mankind, given to Noah and his descendants after the Flood 79, and God-fearers as people who observe some Jewish practices without full conversion through circumcision 80.
Samaritan Scripture and a Disputed Old Scroll
The Samaritan Pentateuch was created at the latest around 127 BC, according to the document that reports this date 39. The Samaritans claim that the Abisha Scroll was written by Abishua, great-grandson of Aaron, about thirteen years after Joshua led the entry into the land of Israel 41. That is a traditional attribution, not a dating result 38.
Canon Lists and a Missing Letter
The Muratorian Fragment, also called the Canon Muratori, is a list of New Testament books contained in a codex dating from the eighth or possibly seventh century. Ludovico Antonio Muratori found it in the Ambrosian Library at Milan 11. The manuscript containing the list originally belonged to Columban's Monastery at Bobbio 12. A 2018 paper argues that the fragment was an attempt to give a later canon position a venerable second-century precedent, though its abstract does not name the books the fragment accepts or rejects 3. The list mentions letters to the Laodiceans and to the Alexandrians, which it treats as apocryphal forgeries written in Paul's name and therefore rejects 47. The letter to the Alexandrians is lost and cannot be recovered 10.
The Muratorian Fragment on the Canon refers to the Shepherd, but the excerpt is cut off before saying how the fragment treats it 9.
Scrolls from the Caves, 1946–1952
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found near Khirbet Qumran in 1946 29. Muhammed edh-Dhib, one of the Bedouin involved, quietly slipped away from his cousins, who were still asleep near the flocks, and climbed toward the cave 31, and he took scripts from the cave on the morning of the discovery 28. Scholars still do not know for certain when the first scrolls were discovered, as John Trever's 1961 article on the date of Qumran Cave 1 shows 37.
In 1947, a shepherd from the hills north of the Dead Sea offered fragments of written material to a dealer in antiquities in Bethlehem 32. The dealer came from the Syriac community, was unsure of the fragments' value, and began inquiries that followed Syriac Orthodox religious and intellectual networks 34. Despite initial scepticism about them, these fragments proved to be the first of what became the globally famous Dead Sea Scrolls 36. Later, one of the scrolls shown to the American School of Oriental Research by Father Sowmy, which had been unwrapped from newspapers, proved to be part of the Sectarian Document 35.
Qumran Cave 4 was excavated in September 1952 by unauthorized people, who also mixed up fragments from what had been two caves 27. A team led by Roland De Vaux then began controlled operations to prevent further damaging digging 30. About 600 manuscripts from Cave 4 were identified as 4Q manuscripts, and about 150 came from controlled excavations 33. The surviving texts include Isaiah's prophecy that all flesh will come to bow down before the LORD on every Sabbath 24, a passage from Jeremiah about Jerusalem and the cities of Judah becoming a desolation 25, and a law that an uncircumcised person may not eat the Passover 72. A Passover fragment adds that a sojourner who keeps it must first have all his males circumcised, after which he is treated like a native 7477, and a servant bought with money may eat only after circumcision 75.
Blood, Y chromosomes and the Lemba
Later work tempered the picture. A 2013 study estimated the non-African component of Y chromosomes at 73.7% in the South African Lemba and 79.6% in the Zimbabwean Remba 65. It also found the extended Cohen modal haplotype in only one South African Jewish individual and in none of the Lemba when higher-resolution typing was used 68. Earlier, mid-1990s work by Spurdle and Jenkins found a general Semitic genetic contribution to the Lemba but could not show whether it was Jewish 69. A later reconsideration reports that the Cohen Modal Haplotype is one step away from the paraphyletic modal haplotype of Muslim Kurds, which belongs to haplogroup Eu9 (J2-M172) 67.
Still unknown
Whether the Samaritan reading of Gerizim in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8 preserves an original text, or reflects a later sectarian change, is not settled by the checked evidence.
Whether the Lemba's Semitic Y-chromosome component reflects Jewish ancestry or a wider Middle Eastern origin is still unresolved after the 2013 and 2014 studies.
Whether any modern community, such as the Bnei Menashe or the Afghan Bani Israil, descends from the ten lost tribes has no checked evidence that answers it.
The checked evidence does not yet cover Israelite origins in Canaan, the Yahweh-El-Asherah question, Quranic Abraham, or comparative 'one God' traditions, so the common-source thesis is not tested for those branches.
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Sources
"Otherwise, it is only mentioned in the stichometry of Nicephorus among the Old Testament Apocrypha"The Septuagint as Christian scripture, page 186
"The canon list known as the Stichometry of Nicephorus (ca. A.D. 850) lists it among"A history of early Christian literature., page 350
"This paper argues that the Fragment represents an attempt to provide a venerable second-century precedent for a later position on canon."The Muratorian Fragment as Roman Fake (2018)
"[and] another to the Alexandrians, [both] forged in Paul’s"Book, page 346
"reference in the Muratorian Fragment to the epistles to the Laodiceans and the Alexandrians"Pseudonymity, the New Testament, and Deception, page 314
"to the Laodiceans, [and] another to the Alexan"Pseudonymity, the New Testament, and Deception, page 314
"letter to the Alexandrians, which is mentioned, along with Laodiceans, in the Muratorian Canon"Book, page 182
"Most likely, the reference to Laodiceans in the Muratorian Fragment is to an apocryphal"Pseudonymity, the New Testament, and Deception, page 314
"From the Muratorian Fragment on the Canon! we learn that the Shepherd ..."The early Christian fathers., page 234
"that Alexandrians is irretrievable"Book, page 182
"As everyone knows, Canon Muratori is a list of New Testament books that was found by Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750) in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and is contained in a codex dating from the eighth or possibly the seventh century"Canon Muratori: A Fourth–Century List (1973)
"which belonged originally to Columban's Monastery at Bobbio"Canon Muratori: A Fourth–Century List (1973)
"stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia (v. 25)"Galatians, page 230
"Paul identifies Sarah with the „Jerusalem above“ (4:26): she is the mother of the free descendants of Abraham."The interpretation of the Sarah-Hagar-stories in rabbinic and patristic literature. Sarah and Hagar as female representations of identity and difference (2025)
"Ismael von der Sklavin Hagar, Isaak von der Freien Sara."
"Paul appears to be connecting Hagar with Mount Sinai on the basis"Galatians, page 230
"On the other hand, he relates Hagar to the Sinai-covenant and the present Jerusalem (4:25): she is the mother of the unfree descendants of Abraham."The interpretation of the Sarah-Hagar-stories in rabbinic and patristic literature. Sarah and Hagar as female representations of identity and difference (2025)
"Thus Hagar represents Mount Sinai because Mount Sinai is in Arabia"Abraham in Galatians, page 338
"But it has to be stressed that Paul is not speaking of Christianity and Judaism, as some contemporary interpreters still claim,3 but of the Galatian community"The interpretation of the Sarah-Hagar-stories in rabbinic and patristic literature. Sarah and Hagar as female representations of identity and difference (2025)
"Die Version des Paulus stellt eine Abwertung des jetzigen Jerusalems dar"
"Paul also appears to defend his Hagar-Mount Sinai equation"Abraham in Galatians, page 338
"Paulus setzt sie aber nur zu den Glaubenden in Beziehung."
"But whereas Paul leaves some possibilities for interpretation open, Tertullian explicitly does not."The interpretation of the Sarah-Hagar-stories in rabbinic and patristic literature. Sarah and Hagar as female representations of identity and difference (2025)
"ומדי שבת בשבת׳ה יבוא כול הבשר להשתחות לפנ׳י אמר יהוה"
"ואת ערי יהודה אתן שממה מבלי יושב"
"three Bedouin shepherds happened upon a cave secluded among the"The untold story of Qumran, page 242
"In fact, in September 1952, Qumran cave 4 was discovered and excavated by unauthorized people, who, incidentally, confused the fragments coming from what had originally been two caves (caves 4a and 4b)."The Excavated Fragments from Qumran: Steps Toward A Reappraisal (2019)
"scripts were taken by edh-Dhib from the cave that morning."The untold story of Qumran, page 242
"and of the Dead Sea Scrolls near Khirbet Qumran in 1946 are commonly reckoned as the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century for the study of early Christianity and ancient Judaism."The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices (2022)
"To avoid further illegal and potentially damaging excavations, a team lead by Roland De Vaux went to the site to begin controlled operations."The Excavated Fragments from Qumran: Steps Toward A Reappraisal (2019)
"Muhammed edh-Dhib quietly slipped away and climbed the"The untold story of Qumran, page 242
"In 1947, a shepherd in the hills north of the Dead Sea visited a contact in Bethlehem, a dealer of antiquities to foreign visitors, offering fragments of written material."Palestine’s Syriac Orthodox community and the Dead Sea scrolls (2021)
"About 600 manuscripts were identified as 4Q manuscripts, and about 150 of them were identified as coming from controlled excavations."The Excavated Fragments from Qumran: Steps Toward A Reappraisal (2019)
"The dealer, from the Syriac community, was unsure of the items’ value and began enquiries which followed Syriac Orthodox religious and intellectual networks."Palestine’s Syriac Orthodox community and the Dead Sea scrolls (2021)
"Carefully they unwrapped one of the smaller ones, which has since proved to be a part of the Sectarian Document."The Excavated Fragments from Qumran: Steps Toward A Reappraisal (2019)
"Despite initial scepticism, the fragments were the first of the now globally famous Dead Sea Scrolls, and ever since have been surrounded by rumours and controversy."Palestine’s Syriac Orthodox community and the Dead Sea scrolls (2021)
"In other words, it indicates that we do not know for certain when the first Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered"The Excavated Fragments from Qumran: Steps Toward A Reappraisal (2019)
"It was written, they say, by Abisha"The Abisha Scroll—3,000 Years Old? - The BAS Library
"This version was created at the latest 127"Samaritan Pentateuch
"though the majority of the Abisha scroll is no younger than the fourteenth century, there is a section which has been determined by Alan David Crown to have been written “within a short time after 1150.”"(#1) Samaritan Torah Scroll (Aktaba Kadisha), Land of Israel [ca. 1166, Scribe: Shalmah ben Abraham bar Yosef of Sarepta]
"The Samaritans claim it was penned by Abishua"Samaritan Pentateuch
"The tashkil of that scroll indicates that it was written by Shalmah ben Abraham in 1166 CE."(#1) Samaritan Torah Scroll (Aktaba Kadisha), Land of Israel [ca. 1166, Scribe: Shalmah ben Abraham bar Yosef of Sarepta]
"But modern scholars have observed that the scroll appears to include work by different scribes from different centuries, with the oldest texts dating to the 12th century A.D."Samaritan Pentateuch
"It con- tains the original exile of the tribes, their dispersal to ..."To the ends of the earth, page 238
"וַיִּ֨גֶל יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ מֵעַ֤ל אַדְמָתוֹ֙ אַשּׁ֔וּרָה עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃"II Kings 17:19-24 [Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text, Sefaria)]
"Their children and their coming generations, by contrast, merit a portion in the land, and convey that right [to their descendants]."The Third Beit HaMikdash, Concluding Statements 5 [The Third Beis HaMikdash, trans. by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, Moznaim Pub Corp. 2016]
"They call themselves "Bani Israil," and trace their descent from King Saul (Malik Taliit)"The races of Afghanistan, page 140
"וַיָּבֵ֣א מֶֽלֶךְ־אַשּׁ֡וּר מִבָּבֶ֡ל וּ֠מִכּ֠וּתָה וּמֵעַוָּ֤א וּמֵֽחֲמָת֙ וּסְפַרְוַ֔יִם וַיֹּ֙שֶׁב֙ בְּעָרֵ֣י שֹֽׁמְר֔וֹן תַּ֖חַת בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל"II Kings 17:19-24 [Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text, Sefaria)]
"According to the cabinet resolution approved at today’s government meeting, 1,200 members of the community will immigrate by the end of 2026"Government approves plan to bring all Bnei Menashe Jews from India to Israel by 2030
"לֹ֣א נִשְׁאַ֔ר רַ֛ק שֵׁ֥בֶט יְהוּדָ֖ה לְבַדּֽוֹ׃"II Kings 17:19-24 [Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text, Sefaria)]
"וַיֵּֽלְכוּ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּכׇל־חַטֹּ֥אות יָרׇבְעָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה לֹא־סָ֖רוּ מִמֶּֽנָּה׃"II Kings 17:19-24 [Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text, Sefaria)]
"These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are passed over the Jordan"Deuteronomy 27:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster."Deuteronomy 27:1-6 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"and these shall stand upon mount Ebal for the curse"Deuteronomy 27:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"they have undoubtedly changed the original Gerizim, which still stands in the Samaritan copies of the Pentateuch, into /bal"Book, page 326
"These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are passed over the Jordan"Deuteronomy 27:1-6 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them."Deuteronomy 27:1-6 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"montem Ebal contra plané aridum et sterilem esse"Book, page 326
"The present Hebrew text tells us in Mount Ebal, but the Samaritan text reads Mount Gerizim."Three months' residence at Nablus, page 362
"Rather we must look to that ancient Sanctuary of which I have already spoken, the natural altar on the summit of Mount Gerizim."Book, page 326
"There is no certainty about the exact"Book, page 84
"The books approved by use in the churches were then approved by the judgment of the scholars."The birth of the Bible, page 206
"which analysed 399 Y chromosomes for 6 microsatellites and 6 biallelic markers in 6 populations including the Lemba, Bantu, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews"The Lemba tests: media and responses (2006)
"The study discovered that Lemba Y chromosomes were divided into Semitic and Bantu clades"The Lemba tests: media and responses (2006)
"The non-African component in the Lemba and Remba was estimated to be 73.7% and 79.6%, respectively."Lemba origins revisited: Tracing the ancestry of Y chromosomes in South African and Zimbabwean Lemba (2013)
"the allegedly most senior and allegedly most important for ritual purposes Lemba clan, the Buba, carried the Cohen Modal Haplotype at a high frequency"The Lemba tests: media and responses (2006)
"one step away from the paraphyletic modal haplotype of"Mitochondrial and Y chromosome haplotype motifs as diagnostic markers of Jewish ancestry: a reconsideration (2014)
"and not at all in the Lemba"Lemba origins revisited: Tracing the ancestry of Y chromosomes in South African and Zimbabwean Lemba (2013)
"Such markers were found and indicated that there was a general Semitic contribution to the Lemba gene pool; however it was not possible to say whether this contribution could be Jewish"The Lemba tests: media and responses (2006)
"But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."Genesis 17:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"גַּם־זֶ֣רַע יַעֲקוֹב֩ וְדָוִ֨ד עַבְדִּ֜י אֶמְאַ֗ס מִקַּ֤חַת מִזַּרְעוֹ֙ מֹֽשְׁלִ֔ים אֶל־זֶ֥רַע אַבְרָהָ֖ם יִשְׂחָ֣ק וְיַעֲקֹ֑ב"
"וכל ערל לא יאכל ב׳ו ׃ תורה אחת יהיה לאזרח ולגר הגר"
"he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed."Genesis 17:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"וכי יגור את׳ך גר ועשה פסח ליהוה המול ל׳וא כול זכר ואז יקרב לעשות׳ו והיה כאזרח"
"וכל עבד איש מקנת כסף ומלתה את׳ו"
"He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."Genesis 17:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"הארץ וכל ערל לא יאכל ב׳ו ׃ תורה אחת תהיה להאזרח ולהגר הגר בתוכ׳כמה"
"And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant."Genesis 17:13-18 [Hebrew Bible (JPS 1917 English, Sefaria)]
"After the Flood they were given over to Noah and his descendants, and are therefore known by his name."Resident Proselytes, god-fearers and the Noahide laws. Making a case for an identification between the ger toshav in traditional Judaism and the sebomenos ton theon in Hellenistic literature (2013)
"they observe some Jewish practices, but they have not moved to full conversion to Judaism through circumcision."Resident Proselytes, god-fearers and the Noahide laws. Making a case for an identification between the ger toshav in traditional Judaism and the sebomenos ton theon in Hellenistic literature (2013)