Where are the 12 Tribes?


Poseidon
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Growing up in the U.S., nearly everyone I knew was from the tribe of Ephraim. When I served a mission in South America, nearly everyone was from the tribe of Manasseh. When I spoke to a member who grew up in Nigeria, he told me nearly everyone he knew was from the tribe of Benjamin. 

So it got me wondering, does anyone know of other areas of the world where a particular tribe is concentrated? 

*This is, of course, just asking for anecdotal evidence, as far as I know there's been no revelation on the subject.  

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10 hours ago, Poseidon said:

Growing up in the U.S., nearly everyone I knew was from the tribe of Ephraim. When I served a mission in South America, nearly everyone was from the tribe of Manasseh. When I spoke to a member who grew up in Nigeria, he told me nearly everyone he knew was from the tribe of Benjamin. 

So it got me wondering, does anyone know of other areas of the world where a particular tribe is concentrated? 

*This is, of course, just asking for anecdotal evidence, as far as I know there's been no revelation on the subject.  

I've never heard of a concentration of Benjamin before.  South America makes sense for Manasseh.  Nephites.  Lehi was from Manasseh.  Most Saints should be from Ephraim.  I don't know if anyone has taken a census.  But I'd bet that of all those receiving a patriarchal blessing worldwide, over 90% would be from Ephraim.

But to your original question: Where are the lost tribes?  They're lost. 

I believe we can say that Ephraim is found.  But I've heard some people say that we're technically still lost.  I had no idea why they thought that.

The Book of Mormon is for gathering Ephraim and eventually unite with Judah (2 Ne 29:13, Ezek 37).  We'll know that the lost tribes will be gathering when we see another book of scripture that is held in the hand of the lost tribes.  So far, none.

The "uniting" will be when we take genealogical records to the temple en masse.

Edited by Carborendum
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10 hours ago, Vort said:

Apropos of nothing, my father was of the tribe of Joseph. FWIW, his wife and children were all from Ephraim.

I had a companion who shared with me the lineage from his Patriarchal blessing. He was "a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Of this there is no doubt."  No tribe was indicated in his blessing.

I'd never heard of that before or since.

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11 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

We'll know that the lost tribes will be gathering when we see another book of scripture that is held in the hand of the lost tribes.

This was my understanding as well, but I don't know where it comes from. Do you have a source?

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3 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

I just gave it to you.  Look at the reference to 2 Ne above.

It reads: "the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews." 

Where does it say whether the words of the lost tribes will be had before, during, or after the gathering? 

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8 minutes ago, Poseidon said:

It reads: "the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews." 

Where does it say whether the words of the lost tribes will be had before, during, or after the gathering? 

There you have to do your research in Ezekiel 37 and Numbers 17.  I don't have time to go over it now.  But I might get back to this later today.

Also D&C 128

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3 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I had a companion who shared with me the lineage from his Patriarchal blessing. He was "a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Of this there is no doubt."  No tribe was indicated in his blessing.

I'd never heard of that before or since.

Mine is actually like that. After the blessing was done the Patriarch had to add an addendum to mine by giving me a second "mini" blessing declaring the specific tribe.

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My speculation is that there’s been so much tribal intermarriage that at this point ethnicity no longer really correlated with tribal affiliation—everyone has some of everything.  

This may be less the case with Ephraim and Manasseh, as mentioned above; but even then—me, my wife, and my second kid are all Ephraimite, but my oldest is from Manasseh.  So here again, tribal affiliation seems to be less an issue of ethnicity/ descent/ bloodline than of covenant and/or adoption.

Edited by Just_A_Guy
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They are not gathered under the polar cap, they are not on some inner earth, they are not off in space somewhere. They are scattered among the people of this earth. 

Quote

There is something mysterious and fascinating about believing the Ten Tribes are behind an iceberg somewhere in the land of the north, or that they are on some distant planet that will one day join itself with the earth, or that the tribe of Dan is in Denmark, the tribe of Reuben in Russia, and so forth. A common cliché asserts: "If we knew where the Lost Tribes were, they would not be lost." True it is that they are lost from the knowledge of the world; they are not seen and recognized as the kingdom they once were; but in general terms, their whereabouts is known. They are scattered in all the nations of the earth, primarily in the nations north of the lands of their first inheritance (italics added). -  Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 520.

 

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5 hours ago, mirkwood said:

If I can find the quote again I will post it.  The short of it is that the Ten Tribes will return to the New Jerusalem and share their scriptures with us.  Somewhere during this timeframe the sealed portion of the plates will also be translated.

That would be awesome, thank you for looking. 

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30 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

I know of the following tribes revealed in PB, but don't know of any particularly region like you shared: Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah, Benjamin, Levi, Asher, and one more but don't exactly remember the one shared.

I met an Issachar once.

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3 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I met an Issachar once.

Awesome, that is another to add to the list of what I have heard. The other one I believe was Rueben (but I hate mentioning it because my memory isn't calling it correctly -- grain of salt).

Edited by Anddenex
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19 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:
51 minutes ago, Anddenex said:

I know of the following tribes revealed in PB, but don't know of any particularly region like you shared: Dan, Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah, Benjamin, Levi, Asher, and one more but don't exactly remember the one shared.

I met an Issachar once.

As I wrote previously, my father was from Joseph. He didn't know until he was in his late 60s that Joseph constituted a different tribe from Ephraim and Manassah.

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The subject of the lost 10 tribes is speculative... So take my thoughts below in that line of speculative reasoning.
 
The 10 tribes are not lost to God.  They are lost to the world and to themselves.  The Jews are not lost because they maintained their Tribal identity, without it they too would have been lost.
 
We know that the Lord is going to gather together in a group, the lost 10 tribes. We know from Jacob 5 the Olive Tree allegory that the gathering is going to take a bit. You don't really have a group without a group identity, but you can't identify as the 10 tribes or you are no longer lost.
 
So it seems reasonable that the 10 tribes are being gathered by the Lord, under a new name/identity. We know that the Lord is going to use Ephraim to do the gathering and that means an organization, and we kind of know what that organization is going to look like.  So it shouldn't be that hard to find.
 
It needs to be led by God, so prophets and apostles.  We know what that looks like.  It needs to be Missionary oriented, sending missionaries out to convert people to the Lord, and this new identity.  We know what that looks like as well. The scriptures are full of the Lord hiding things in plain sight, so the Lord could be hiding their tribal identities in plain sight as well.  They could have patriarchs declaring lineages... which means they aren't lost any more but if they do not understand it then they still kind of are.  And in case pieces aren't quite clicking yet... Maybe their current Prophet has recently gone on record as saying something like "We are gathering Israel on both sides of the veil" 
 
Because to me that is what the gathering of the 10 tribes logically looks like. And I see no reason for there to be two such organizations gathering them.  We have our records in the Doctrine and Covenants and other modern revelation, we have the record of the Nephites (Book of Mormon) and the Jews (Bible).  While more might still come, we have enough to also say the prophecy is complete concerning the coming forth of records when the timing it right.
 
Then we have prophecies of the movements and revealing of the 10 tribes who were lost.  Those have not happened yet, but if my thoughts and speculative reasoning is correct then those are prophecies of our movements and unveiling by the Lord.  This would mean that the lost 10 tribes that have been gathered are currently hiding in plain sight under their identities as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
Edited by estradling75
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“He (God) has said, that the time is at hand for the Jews to be gathered to Jerusalem. —And we know it. 

He has said, that the Ten Tribes of Israel should also be revealed in the North country, together with their oracles and records, preparatory to their return, and to their union with Judah, no more to be separated. —And we know it. 

~Proclamation of the Twelve, Messages of the First Presidency, Vol. 1, p. 263, April 6, 1845.

 

 

Then we will find that there is a place for the First Presidency of this Church; for the Twelve Apostles called in this dispensation; for the twelve disciples that were called among the remnants of Joseph on this land in ancient times; for the twelve that were called among the ten tribes of Israel in the north country;

~Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 17, p. 186-188, October 11, 1874

 

“It is maintained by some that the lost tribes of Israel—those carried into captivity about 721 B. C.—are no longer a distinct people; that they exist only in a scattered condition, mixed with the nations among which they were taken by their captors, the conquering Assyrians. If this be true, and those tribes were not intact at the time Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Keys of the Gathering, why did they make so pointed a reference to ‘the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north?’ And this, too, after a general allusion to ‘the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth.’ What need to particularize as to the Ten Tribes, if they were no longer a distinct people? And why do our Articles of Faith give those tribes a special mention?

~Orson F. Whitney, Saturday Night Thoughts, p. 159-160.

 

“The Jews are called dispersed, because they are scattered among the nations; but the ten tribes are called outcasts, because they are cast out from the knowledge of the nations into a land by themselves.”

~Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning, p. 35.

 

Here it will be seen that the house of Israel will be in a very different condition from the Jews.The ten tribes will believe in Christ, so much so, that he will lead them, while on their return from the north country, and they will come and ‘sing in the height of Zion,’ and ‘they will not sorrow any more at all:’ whereas the Jews will have no such favours shown unto them on their return from the nations, but will have great distress and sorrow, and mourning, after they get back to Jerusalem. 

~Orson Pratt, Millennial Star, Vol. 11, p. 323, November 1, 1849

 

The ten tribes cannot be among any of the known nations; for there is no one who is able to identify them; and there are no people who even profess or claim to be of such origin.”

~Orson Pratt, Millennial Star, Vol. 29, p. 200-201, March 30, 1867

 

 

 

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Ok, one more.

 

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 187-188, July 10, 1859.

            “By-and-by, after you have fulfilled your missions to the nations of the Gentiles, and there will not any more of them repent,—that is, when you have fully accomplished all that is required of you in relation to them, you will have another mission, and so will the Twelve, and that is to the house of Israel that may be among those nations; I mean the literal descendants of Jacob—the Jews, and the descendants of the other tribes that may be scattered among those nations.  There are some from the ten tribes among them; but the body of the ten tribes are in the north country.  You will find a few among all these Gentile nations:  you will have to direct your attention to them after you have fulfilled your mission among the Gentiles, and their times are fulfilled.

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15 hours ago, Poseidon said:

That would be awesome, thank you for looking. 

 

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 15, p. 109-110,  August 4, 1872.

            “God is a consistent being, and he reveals himself according to his own mind and will, and in the last dispensation he will continue to reveal line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, bringing forth a record here, unfolding the history of another people there, bringing to light the bible of the ten tribes who have been absent from the land of Canaan for almost three thousand years.  Their bible has got to be brought to light, and when they return they will bring their written revelations, prophecies, visions and dreams with them, and we shall have the bible of the ten tribes, as well as the bible of the ancient Israelites who lived on this continent, and the bible of the Jews on the eastern continent, and these bibles will be united in one, and even then the people will not have enough revelation.”

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