Devour the whole earth

In verse 23, our interpreter tells us that the fourth kingdom will devour the whole earth. Obviously the Roman Empire was huge. It is estimated that the max land area was 2.51 million square miles. However that is only 4.53% of the total land mass of the world and only slightly larger than the amount conquered by Nazi Germany. One interpretation might be that from the Jewish perspective, this might as well be the whole earth.

When does this happen?

We already know that the ten horns are confusing, but a bigger issue is the timing of them. If we are to interpret the eleventh horn as the Antichrist (most do) then the ten horns have to be future. That means that for my interpretation, either the Roman Empire still rules today (it doesn’t) or there will be some reappearance of the Roman Empire in the future. The second option is really the only viable option if you stick with my version and a literal interpretation.

Interpreting figuratively

If you take it figuratively, then you could say the the ten horns represent several kingdoms that emerged after the Roman Empire or it could figuratively mean the rise of the western world.

The problem I have with interpreting it more figuratively is that it is up to you where to draw the line between what to interpret literally and what is figurative. If you say that the ten horns just represents a large number of kingdoms, you could also say that the number of beasts is figurative and maybe there were more or less than four. As you can see it is a slippery slope which can get you in trouble quickly.

The ten horns

We are told that the ten horns are ten kings. It is most likely that their reign is simultaneous, because three of them are disrupted by the little horn. As we mentioned earlier, there is no good theory on who the ten kings coming after the Roman Empire might be so most assume this is still future. That is the best interpretation I think, but it is a pretty inconsistent interpretation. We assign a beginning and end date to the rule of the first three beasts, but then move to a figurative interpretation of the reign of the fourth beast.

However Revelation mentions ten kings/horns twice (Rev 13:1, 17:12). Also the “time, times and half a time” or 3.5 years from verse 25 seems to corroborate the time periods mentioned in Daniel 12:11 (1290 days) and Revelation 11:2 (1260 days). So the future interpretation seems to best fit with the rest of Scripture, but its just not as straightforward as I would like it to be.

Antiochus Epiphanes

Antiochus Epiphanes was a Seleucid king who ruled over Jerusalem after the Greek empire and before the Romans. He was a huge opponent to Jewish worship and tradition because of his belief in Hellenization (the adoption of Greek culture). To raise money to pay the Roman taxes he incurred, he sold the office of high priest in the temple to the highest bidder. He also outlawed Jewish worship, destroyed copies of the Torah and converted the temple to a place to worship Zeus. You can read more about him and how his actions led the the Maccabean revolt in First and Second Maccabees.

Some interpretors believe that the little horn is actually Antiochus and not the Antichrist. There is another little horn mentioned in the prophecy in chapter 8 and most people interpret this one as Antiochus. Since he came from the Greek Empire and not the Roman, you also have to interpret the fourth beast as Greece.

There are still similar issues with this interpretation because the ten horns don’t have a clear meaning in the Greek empire either and Greece did not devour the whole earth. Not to mention the fact that interpreting Greece as the third beast fits much nicer. My take on this would be that Antiochus is a type of antichrist, but not THE Antichrist.

My take on the fourth beast

I think the best solution is that the fourth beast represents the Roman Empire, however in the future there will be a sort of resurrection of the Roman Empire leading to the ten kings and the little horn. This seems to be the least problematic interpretation to me, however I doubt I would martyr myself for this belief.

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Daniel has a vision of four beasts coming up out of the sea. Each of these beasts represents an empire that in the next several centuries would conquer the world (at least from the Jewish perspective). We know that they represent kingdoms because the interpreter tells him in verse 17. This prophecy seems to be a greater revelation of the events God revealed in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. It is the most extensive prophecy in the Bible that covers 1000 years (or 2000 years depending on how you date the Roman Empire). The prophecy is so accurate, that its greatest fault in the eyes of critics is that it’s too accurate. Most of the critics assume that prophecy is not possible, so Daniel could not have been written as early as the Babylonian Empire.

There are two prominent interpretations of the beasts depending on who you think wrote Daniel and whether or not prophecy can exist. The skeptic says that the first beast is Babylon, the second is Media, the third is Persia and the fourth is Greece. The more conservative scholar says that the first is Babylon, the second is Medo-Persia, the third is Greece and the fourth is the Rome.

The reason for the difference is the skeptics believe that prophecy is not possible so a Daniel who lived in 6th century BC could not have written this book. Their argument is that the book was written sometime around the 2nd century BC likely during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (175 BC – 164 BC). The conservative scholar argues that it was written in the 6th century and that the prophecy & symbolism fit better with history by combining the Median and Persian Empires.

This article will support the more conservative theory. We are going to assume that Daniel was the author and that he wrote before the fall of the Babylonian Empire. If you would like to know more about the debate over the authorship of this book, then try the John Walvoord Commentary on Daniel.

The First Beast – Babylon

The first beast is easy because everyone agrees that this represents Babylon. It is a lion with wings like eagles, but the wings are plucked off and it is made to stand like a man. Babylon is said to have had winged lions at the gates of their royal palaces. Scripture alludes to Babylon using the symbolism of both a lion (Jeremiah 4:7) and an eagle (Ezekiel 17:3).

Most everyone agrees that the wings being plucked is a reference to Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation earlier in the book of Daniel. The lion and eagle are both ruler over their respective domains and Nebuchadnezzar believed he was ruler over everything as well. However, God demonstrated that Nebuchadnezzar was only a man and it was only by His will that Nebuchadnezzar possessed this power.

The Second Beast – Medo-Persia

The second beast is a bear that is “raised up on one side” with three ribs in its mouth. It was told to “Arise and devour much flesh.” This beast represents the Medo-Persian empire. While the Medes did establish themselves as an empire separate from the Persians, they were conquered by Cyrus and the combined empire is the one who conquered the Babylonian empire in Daniel 5. The bear being raised up on one side symbolizes the two-sided empire which was actually stronger on one side since the Persians had absorbed the Medes by the time they conquered Babylon.

The three ribs in its mouth are less clear. Some have suggested that it represents the three major divisions of this empire: Babylon, Media and Persia. Others have said it represents the three major empires they conquered: Lydia, Babylon and Egypt. Still others claim it represents the empire spanning three different continents: Africa, Asia and Europe.

The command to “Arise and devour much flesh” may be symbolic of the vast expansion of the empire. The Medo-Persian empire was dominant for another 200 years before Alexander the Great. It is estimated that about 44% of the world’s population at the time lived under the Medo-Persian empire, making it the largest ever in percentage of total population.

The Third Beast – Greece

The third beast is a four-headed leopard with four wings which represents Greece. The leopard is less majestic than a lion or bear, yet it is very fast especially if it had wings as well. This is symbolic of the lightening fast expansion of the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, which he stretched all the way to the Himalayas by the time he was 30 years old. The four heads and four wings are representative of the four generals who divided up his empire upon Alexander’s sudden death.

The Fourth Beast – Rome

The fourth beast is given more consideration by Daniel than the others and the most interesting (terrifying) to him as we learn in verse 19. It was not compared to any other living creature, but was unlike anything Daniel had ever seen. Rome was the greatest empire that the world has ever seen, lasting from about 26 BC to the 5th century AD when Rome was sacked (though the eastern half of the empire lasted until 1453 AD). The effect that Rome had on history is unparalleled and can be found in all areas of modern life.

The Roman Empire would also be the most devastating to the Jews when they burned down the temple in 70 AD. The Jewish-Roman wars scattered the Jews and they would not retain a major presence in their homeland until 1948.

The most confusing part of the fourth beast is the ten horns. There is no consensus as to what the ten horns represent historically. We are told in verse 24 that they represent ten kings with an eleventh coming and putting down three of the ten. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of ten specific kings arising out of the Roman empire. Some have decided to take this number figuratively and that the number ten might represent a large number or maybe completeness. Others take it more literally and just acknowledge that we don’t know exactly.

Most people seem to think that this could represent ten future kings who will come out of a resurrection of the Roman empire. This idea comes from Revelation 13, where another beast arises that has the characteristics of these four beasts. In this interpretation, the eleventh horn represents the anti-Christ. Some, who take the number ten as figurative, have said that the ten horns represent the rise of the western world so we are technically still in the period of the fourth beast.

Drawings Credit

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• Darius was the person put in charge of Babylon or perhaps a nickname for Ugbaru who is credited as the general who conquered Babylon.
• Darius is a title and not a name. So instead of King Cyrus it was Darius Cyrus.

For the second theory, you have to interpret verse 28 as “during the reign of Darius, that is the reign of Cyrus the Persian” or something similar to that. This is apparently a poorly documented period of history so it is possible that there is some other resolution we just don’t know about.

Daniel finds himself again in a very high-powered government position, though it was probably his last since he was in his 80s and the Persians allowed Jews to return to Israel. Daniel must have had a pseudo-retirement (by choice or by force) after Nebuchadnezzar died since he was unknown to Belshazzar in chapter 5.

No one is sure who Darius is historically

It is interesting to see the difference in power that Darius has compared to Nebuchadnezzar. Notice that the officials appeal to the law as the sovereign rule in the kingdom. And then when Darius wants to free Daniel, he is powerless to do it. This was seemingly not the case with Nebuchadnezzar, who did pretty much whatever he wanted without any checks and balances.

Apparently the sentence did not account for how long someone must stay in the lion’s den. It was likely unprecedented for someone to survive that long. It would be really interesting to hear Daniel’s account of that evening. I imagine it would be very similar to Jonah’s account from the whale…lots of prayer.

How come nothing huge came about from the decrees of both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius ordering everyone to worship the God of Daniel? Were the kings just lax in their enforcement of their decrees? It stands in stark contrast to the decree Constantine made in the fourth century, making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. That changed the course of Christianity permanently, whereas the Jewish nation or religion never really return to prosperity after this.

Daniel is likely in his 80s at this point

Two things continue to impress me about Daniel. First is how he once again finds himself in a high position with an extremely powerful leader who trusts him greatly. He was obviously a very hard worker and did what he could to make his boss successful. The second and most convicting thing about this chapter for me was how they couldn’t find anything to smear Daniel’s character with. I’m pretty positive you could find something with me. This is likely one of the most famous chapters in the Bible because of the lions, but the lesson of the chapter is that Daniel lived above reproach in quite literally every area of his life.

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The walls of Babylon were 87 feet thick and 100 feet high

It was fairly common for the kings to dine with such large numbers of people as you can see in Esther 1. In this case though, the invading armies are right outside the city walls. This would seem to be incredible arrogance similar to his grandfather, but Herodotus tells us that Babylon had two walls surrounding the city with a moat in between. The walls were 87 feet thick and 100 feet high, so conquering Babylon was not something that happened easily. At the end of the chapter we find out that this would be the night it was captured. Herodotus corroborates the Bible and mentions a festival was going on the night the city was conquered.

Regardless of the city’s security, it was a bad decision to get drunk in front of your lords with an invading army outside. Even worse to taunt a god by desecrating sacred items collected from a temple. Maybe he was doing this to instill a sense of pride to his lords reminding them of past victories, though Daniel seems be very specific about his lack of sobriety.

The handwriting on the wall has always stood out to me as a bizarre miracle by God (bizarre by miracle standards that is). This seems like something you would see in a horror movie. The best interpretation I found of the Aramaic writing said it literally translated to “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.”

Belshazzar was not given a message of repentance but rather a proclamation of impending judgement. It is evident to us that although the king is just informed of his doom, God had been moving the Medes and Persians in place to execute his plan for some time.

Extra-biblical writings tell us that the Persians blocked the flow of the Euphrates and walked on the riverbed to an unguarded portion of the wall where they climbed up without opposition. Since so many were gathered at the festival, the Babylonians were defeated with relative ease.

Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided

Darius the Mede is not found anywhere else in extra-biblical writings and is a serious point of contention for Bible critics. Cyrus was definitely the king of Persia, so Darius could either be a Babylonian nickname or title similar to Caesar or Pharoah. It also could be referring to the local ruler that Cyrus put in charge of that area. There is no evidence to identify Darius the Mede, but there is also no hard evidence contradicting it.

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This chapter is really interesting because it appears that Nebuchadnezzar wrote it, which would make it the only chapter I can think of in the Bible written by a pagan. Unless of course his humbling and repentance at the end was genuine, which is a possibility. Alternatively, Daniel could have just copied down a decree that Nebuchadnezzar wrote to his subjects.

Zoanthropy is a disease where a person believes themselves to be an animal

God gives the king another troubling dream that he needs interpreted. I find it unlikely that the normal magicians could not figure out what the dream meant. I bet that the king had a pretty good idea himself, given his fear, and he was just looking for more specifics. I think the magicians were just scared to tell the king the truth much like Daniel is at first. However last time they failed to interpret the dream, he ordered them all to be put to death. It doesn’t seem like there was an easy way out for them either way.

The seven periods of time is a bit of a mystery. It probably was more than seven days or weeks since it was long enough for his hair and fingernails to grow significantly. Some historians believe there is a seven year period from 582-575 BC that Babylon did not have any military activity. They say this was possibly the timing for this incident.

The way Nebuchadnezzar addresses Daniel shows how much respect he had gotten in the king’s eyes. He acknowledges that Daniel has the favor of some god, though which one is not abundantly clear to Nebuchadnezzar for a few more verses. Even when Daniel hesitates to tell the king the bad news, Nebuchadnezzar assures him that nothing bad will come of him.

There are actual names given to the condition that Nebuchadnezzar is cursed with. Zoanthropy is a disease where a person believes themselves to be an animal. Another is boanthropy which is when someone believes themselves to be an ox. There is also lycanthropy where someone thinks they can transform into a werewolf, but that is less relevant yet good trivia.

God fulfills the dream after another display of Nebuchadnezzar’s extraordinary ego. It is interesting that all the previous miracles and other events in the earlier chapters did not really have a huge effect on Nebuchadnezzar’s theology. The lesson I think we can learn from his experience is this:

Witnessing miracles is enough to make you, at best, a theist but personal trials and suffering is enough to humble you underneath the God of the universe.

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One interesting thing to note is that this is no small statue. It is estimated to be 99 feet high and 9 feet wide or at least as tall as a 10 story building. We don’t really know what the statue was of, but archaeologists has found similar tall and narrow statues. Bringing all of the government figures in to worship the statue was likely a power play to unite them all in worshipping under the god whom Nebuchadnezzar commanded. It forced them to acknowledge the supremacy of the Babylonian government over them. Some have speculated that this event happened very soon after conquering Jerusalem or perhaps after a coup attempt.

Since Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (from here on SMA) were in fairly high positions after chapter 2, it would seem that these Chaldeans would probably profit by removing them and taking their place. The biggest question is, where is Daniel when all this happens? It doesn’t seem likely that he would have complied with the idol worship, though I suppose it is possible. The more hopeful explanation is that he was given such a high position that he was not required to attend since his loyalty was not in question. It is also possible that some sort of government figure would have stayed behind since so many were away at this ceremony.

The status was estimated to be 99 feet tall and 9 feet wide or as tall as a ten story building

It seems odd that Nebuchadnezzar repeats the phrase “when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image”. It makes me think that this was some sort of phrase or chant that they had come up with because it definitely doesn’t sound natural.

One of the most impressive things I think in the whole Bible is verse 3:18. SMA tell him that their God has the ability to save them from the fiery furnace. But if he choses not to save them, they will still not turn on him. This is no prosperity gospel.

We are starting to really get a good feel for the arrogance of the king. He seems irrational and a man with an ego that at times seems unbelievable. His irrational order causes the death of the men who were to carry out SMA’s death sentence and it’s not hard to imagine Nebuchadnezzar giving a “meh” after it happened.

There is no indication of who the fourth man really was nor what gave him the distinctive appearance. I imagine it was likely the Angel of the Lord.

Who thinks Nebuchadnezzar will maintain his recognition of YHWH as supreme for the rest of the book?

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So now enter Daniel to interpret the dream. I wonder if he had interpreted dreams before this or if he was just given the gift at this moment. His confidence is very high for someone who had never done this. His prayer is all about thanking God for giving him the answer. I think mine would have been more along the lines of, “Please let this be right so he doesn’t rip my arms and legs off.”

Daniel coveys and interprets the dream correctly. And apparently God for some reason chose to give Nebuchadnezzar a sweeping view of the next few centuries. We are left wondering, why would God choose to give this dream and prophecy to a pagan king? Was it solely to get Daniel promoted? Or does this dream spark the change in Nebuchadnezzar that ultimately leads to his repentance? Or did he just want the prophecy recorded and he knew eventually Daniel would write it down?

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There is a discrepancy about the timing of this deportation between Daniel 1 and Jeremiah 25. Daniel says the third year of Jehoiakim, while Jeremiah calls it the fourth year. Here is a likely resolution…

Scholars have proposed several solutions to this problem. The best one, from my viewpoint, is that Daniel wrote from the Babylonian perspective and Jeremiah from the Jewish. It would have been only natural for Daniel to do so since he spent virtually all of his life in Babylon. The Babylonians considered the first year of their kings’ reigns as the accession year, the year they acceded to the throne. That “year” sometimes lasted only a few months. The first regnal year, the first full year of their reign, began with the first day of the new civil year. For the Babylonians this was the first of Nisan (late March and early April). This is the accession-year system of dating.

Jeremiah was writing from the Jewish perspective. During the reigns of Jehoash to Hoshea the Jews also followed the accession-year system. However the Jews began their civil years on the first of Tishri (late September and early October). This explanation harmonizes these references.

Daniel and his three friends make the decision to abstain from eating the king’s food and instead go with a vegetarian diet. Some have taken this as God showing preference to a vegetarian diet, but the rest of Scripture doesn’t seem to support that idea. I don’t really know why they do this, because drinking wine was not forbidden and only unclean meats were forbidden. Some have suggested it’s because the meat could have been offered to idols, but I believe they often offered vegetables too. One commentary said it is most likely to maintain their distinct identity and futher resist the temptation to fully assimilate into Babylonian culture.

I am most impressed by Daniel’s approach in everything in this chapter. He asks permission of the steward and then doesn’t boast in his decision, but rather excels in spite of it. He ensures that the steward look good to his superiors and then proceeds to excel in his duties to a pagan nation. I think the last line of the chapter serves to show that God can sustain a faithful servant even longer than an empire. King Cyrus is the ruler of the Medo-Persian empire that conquers the Babylonians.

A few things that I found that were strange is that we don’t really know anything about Daniel prior to this. The Bible always seems to introduce people as Daniel the son of ______, but with Daniel we only get that he was from the tribe of Judah.

It also seems odd that today we don’t know Daniel as Belteshazzar, but we know the other three most commonly as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel even switches back and forth between their Jewish names and Babylonian names throughout the book.

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The book of Esther is important in Jewish history, because it gives the origin of the Feast of Purim. It is also just a great story of Jews being an underdog, yet overcoming certain death.

As it turns out, Esther is one of the antilegomena which is translated “books spoken against.” There were doubts about including Esther in the Old Testament canon from both ancient Jews and early Christians. Here are a few of the knock that Esther has against it.

God is not mentioned anywhere in the book.

No Mention of God
God is not mentioned anywhere in the book. There was apparently some attempt to find YHWH hidden covertly in Esther 5:4. The first letter of the first four words in that verse in Hebrew could be YHWH, but that would seem to be more coincidental than anything. Now taken in the context of the Bible, we can see God’s preservation of his people in the book but His hand in it is never explicitly (or implicitly for that matter) mentioned. Contrast that with verses like 1 Kings 20:28 where God specifically is said to give the ability for the Jews to survive a battle against more than 100,000.

Some bibles include a few additions to the book of Esther which include mention of God. Most of those have been proven to be later additions tothe text though. Jerome included them in his Latin Vulgate, but noted that they were additions.

Some see the absence of God’s name as symbolic. Remember that the Jews were exiled for their disobedience. Esther was also written after the Jews had been allowed to return to the promise land. There is evidence that most of them did not return because they were doing well financially in Persia. This shows their continued disobedience.

Not quoted by any other OT or NT book
The book of Esther is never mentioned by any other biblical author. The first mention of Esther comes from 2nd Maccabees which would have been written about 200 years after.

No author is given
This one is not a big deal because we don’t know the author of several books in the Bible. Some think that Mordecai was the author, although there is no support of the idea. Others think Esther, which is unlikely since she was a woman in a patriarchal society. The content of the book makes it seem like he was there and familiar with the Persian culture.

The Dead Sea Scrolls did not have a copy of Esther
The Dead Sea Scrolls contained at least portions of every book in the Old Testament, except for Esther. This is pretty shocking, but some say that the sect of Judaism that held the Dead Sea scrolls could have left it out because they disapproved of a Jew marrying a Persian king.

Luther didn’t like it
At one point Luther argued against including Esther in the canon. He didn’t like the fact that it didn’t mention God. His argument was obviously unsuccessful.

The Dead Sea Scrolls contained at least portions of every book in the Old Testament, except for Esther.

The Queen Vashiti
There are some ancient Greek histories that give the queen’s name as Amestris, while the book of Esther clearly names her Vashiti. An easy explanation would be that she had two names, just like Esther in 2:7. However in the Greek history, Amestris seems to remain in power, while the bible portrays Vashiti as being immediately dismissed.

So what are we to make of the book of Esther. It seems that many are willing to dismiss Esther, but there are evidences on both sides that are being brought to light from archaeology. Historically, Esther has the support of the church and Judaism.

References

• Herodutus, Histories
• Josephus, Antiquities
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Net Bible Commentary
• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• SonicLight Notes (PDF)

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After Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam makes a pretty ridiculous decision. The Israelites ask him if he is going to be easier on them than their father. Instead of appeasing them, Rehoboam institutes forced labor and says in 1 Kings 12:14 “My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” I don’t think that statement would go over well for any ruler ever in history. This causes 10 of the 12 tribes to split and form the northern kingdom which becomes known as Israel. The remaining 2 tribes are Judah and Benjamin who form the southern kingdom to be called Judah. Also important is that Jerusalem and the temple were located in Judah.

Since Israel (the northern kingdom) didn’t have their own place of worship, they created their own places to worship and elevated 2 golden calves to the status of gods (1 Kings 12:25-33). These worship spots became known as the high places. As punishment God sent the nation of Assyria to capture and take captive the northern kingdom (2 Kings 15-17). The Assyrians force them them out of the promised land into exile in other parts of the Assyrian empire.

Judah, even though they had a temple, opted to follow in the footsteps of their brothers to the north and worshipped idols as well. The Assyrians invaded and gave Judah quite a bit of trouble, but God didn’t allow them to completely drive Judah out mainly due to the faithfulness of Hezekiah. After Hezekiah dies though, Judah turns even worse to the point where they didn’t even know that the Torah existed. So God sends the nation of Babylon, who had just defeated the Assyrian army, to invade and exile the people of Judah (2 Kings 25).

At this point there are virtually no Israelites living in the promised land.

So now at this point there are virtually no Israelites living in the promised land. The 10 tribes of the northern kingdom were scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire, but it was then defeated by the Babylonians. The 2 tribes of the southern kingdom are now exiled out into the Babylonian Empire. The only Israelites who seem to be remaining in the promised are a few of the poorest people of Judah who the Babylonians allowed to stay (2 Kings 25:12). Ironically in the northern kingdom the Assyrians had resettled it with foreigners who began to worship God (though not exclusively) after He sent lions to kill a bunch of them (2 Kings 17:24-41).

Fast forward a few years and the Persian empire now has defeated the Babylonian empire and controls the fate of the Israelites who were exiled. Ezra and Nehemiah go about rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and the temple, but only two and a half tribes are now present. If you read Nehemiah 11, you’ll see only Judah, Benjamin and Levi mentioned because they are the only ones to return to the land. Levi is only counted as half because the Levites were scattered throughout the northern and southern kingdom in cities dedicated to them. This was so they could have a presence all over the land to carry out their priestly duties.

The obvious question now is what happened to the 10 lost tribes of Israel. In 2 Chronicles 30, we do see that at least some people from the northern tribes had escaped the Assyrian exile and found their way back to Israel. They still choose to ignore the need to worship God in Jerusalem at the temple. There were probably very few of them left and they are likely ignored for the rest of the Bible because of their refusal to worship God. The only other mention of one of those tribes comes in Luke 2:36 where the prophetess Anna is said to be part of the tribe of Asher.

So what happened to them?

So what happened to them? It seems likely that they were just assimilated into the populations of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. There were a few who returned and probably lived in the promised land, but by the time of the New Testament the Romans had come and built roads leading to more dispersion. Any Jews left would have been scattered after the Romans war with the Jews in the first century.

There have been many wilder theories. One Portuguese guy in the 17th century claimed they were all living in South American when he traveled there. There have been random people groups all over the world who claim to be descended. The current nation of Israel has even declared some of these people groups legitimate enough to have the right to return to Israel and live there. There are even crazier theories that say the Japanese and Irish are actually just descendants of these 10 tribes. I’m not sure how that even makes sense.

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