The Lost Tribes

Back in the beginning of Malachim, Yeruvum ben Nvat rebels against Rechavum, son of Shlomo. Ten of the tribes side with Yeruvum whil two remain with Rechuvam. This is the beginning of the splitting of the kingdoms into Yehuda and Yisrael. Yeruvum, king of Yisrael, has a fatal flaw. Whether it can be identified as insecurity or just fear of losing power, it eventually changes the course of history. In order to prevent the people of his kingdom from greturning to the Beit Hamikdash and possibly rejoining the kingdom of Yehuda, he built two new temples in Dan and Beit El, appointed his own priests, and created his own holidays. Even though at this time the people used these temples to worship G-d, it would not always remain like this. Yeruvum prevented the people from having a close relationship with G-d and because of his actions, many years later those ten tribes would be forced into exile as punishment and as a mere warning to Yehuda.

The exile of Yisrael and the warning to Yehuda all begin with the reign of Yeruvum and end with the reign of Hoshea. It is interesting to note that even though these two kings are related to terrible times for Yisrael, neither had bad intentions. Yeruvum's intention for making the two temples was not to cause his people to stray off the Derech, but only to prevent them from leaving his kingdom and rejoining Yehuda. His rebellion had just caused the split of the powerful kingdom that Dovid and Shlomo Hamelech(im) had previously ruled. He did what he thought would preserve and save his kingdom. This is what he saw to be geo-politically correct. The issue was, however, G-d is and has always been the one pulling the strings, and beginning with these fatal mistake by Yeruvum, the kings of Yisrael and even Yehuda continued to ignore this significant idea. 

Assyria was the superpower during the times of many of the kings of Yisrael. Assyria was conquering more people and expanding their borders. Each nation can respond by either creating a mutual alliance, submitting by paying taxes, or refuse to pay taxes which means they are risking being attacked and possibly taken over. Menacham, king of Yisrael, gives Assyria a lot of money as a treaty in hopes that Assyria will not attack his kingdom. Yisrael continues to pay taxes to Assyria. Yisrael was not strong enough to survive an attack or defeat Assyria so this was Menacham's best option. Later on, Yehuda and Aram team up to try to defeat Assyria. They invite Achaz, king of Yehuda, to join their alliance. Achaz refuses for he is more interested in making an alliance with Assyria. The kings of Yisrael and Aram view Yehuda as an enemy since they did not want to be part of the alliance. They attack Yehuda. Assyria comes to defend their ally and defeat Yisrael. This defeat of Yisrael was meant to do two things. First, it was meant as a clear punishment for Yisrael. The people of Yisrael were so corrupted and off the derech that it was more important for them to be punished even if it meant Achaz, who was evil in the eyes of G-d, would win the war. Second, it was meant to send a warning to Yehuda. Yisrael was destroyed at the hands of Assyria for their sins, G-d could easily cause Assyria to destroy Yehuda too as punishment for what they were doing. This warning was meant to get indivduals to do Teshuva and return to G-d. It was also meant to show Achaz that even though he though Assyria would be the one to save him and his kingdom, it was all up to G-d. If G-d wanted to punish them, then He would send Assyria to punish them just like He did to Yisrael.

Yisrael had been paying taxes to Assyria to prevent total destruction and attack. Hoshea, king of Yisrael, comes along. He is not as bad as the previous kings but the people were worse than any other previous generation of Yisrael. Hoshea stops sending taxes to Assyria and attempts to make an alliance with Egypt. Assyira views this as a rebellion and immediately attacks Yisrael. The king of Assyria exiles the people of Yisrael to other cities thus is how we lost the 10 tribes. These tribes continue to be lost until this very day. 

Usually, the people are punished because of the kings actions. If he is leading them astray and is corrupt then they are punished. This time, however, it was not Hoshea's fault. Maybe politically it was (he didn't have to stop sending taxes). Overall though, it was G-d's decision. He is the one pulling the strings. It was time for Yisrael to be punished. Accoring to Metzudat Dovid, Hoshea removed the guards who had been preventing the people of Yisrael from returning to the Beit Hamikdash. The people, however, did not want to go even though the guards were gone. This prompted the punishment. Before they could not return and be close to G-d because of their kings; not it was their fault. They did not wish to return. They had heard the warnings and had begun to hate the Mitzvot and G-d. They turned to Avodah Zara and did not believe in G-d anymore. It all began with two temples in which they would serve G-d. This resulted in full blown Avodah Zara and disregard of G-d. These people now lost and  until Meshiach, we will probably never find them again.