no more two nations
Ezekiel 37:22
37:22 no more two nations. Ever since the days of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, the children of Israel had been divided into two nations. The northern kingdom was called Israel, or Joseph, or Ephraim, and included ten of the tribes. The southern kingdom, Judah, consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Levites were scattered around both, but mostly in Judah, because of the temple. Israel was carried away captive by the Assyrians in about 740 B.C., Judah by the Babylonians around 588 B.C. However, some of all the tribes were left in the land. The Samaritans were descendants of a mixture of the people of the northern kingdom with the Canaanites and other Gentiles in the land. A remnant of the Jews (Judah and Benjamin) later returned under the Persian emperors Cyrus and Artaxerxes to reestablish Jerusalem and the temple worship. Although the ten tribes have been considered “lost” ever since Assyria fell to Babylon, as far as national identity is concerned (the notion that the British, Americans, or others are their descendants has no basis either in Scripture or sound history), God knows where all His people are. Many individuals certainly have returned to their land during the long centuries of exile. In any case, when God finally regenerates and reestablishes the nation, all the tribes will be included, but as just “one nation, under Messiah.”
