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This passage at once raises an interesting point in connection with the so-called "lost
tribes". If there were representatives of Ephraim and Manasseh among the returning
captives of Judah, these two tribes obviously could not have been lost. If only one man
and his wife in each tribe had returned, they would have been sufficient to continue the
line. It is most important in view of the ideas contained in the "British-Israel" theory,
that we should remember that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh at least need not be
looked for outside the limits of the people we now call "Jews". These tribes were
evidently never "lost".
Moreover, we must also take into account the evidence of II Chron. 15::
"And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the sojourners with them out of
Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in
abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him" (II Chron. 15: 9).
Here we not only get four tribes mentioned by name, but we are also assured that "out
of Israel" there fell to Asa men "in abundance". Is it possible, then, that these tribes can
be lost?
In the next chapter, we read that Baasah, king of Israel, came up against Judah and
built Ramah, "to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of
Judah" (II Chron. 16: 1). This action by the king of Israel shows how seriously he
regarded the continuous loss of his people to the kingdom of Judah. We also find, in
chapter 19:, the king of Judah going through the people "from Beersheba to Ephraim",
and "bringing them back to the Lord God of their fathers" (II Chron. 19: 4).
Again, we read in chapter 23:, in connection with Jehoiada, the high priest:
"And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah,
and the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem" (II Chron. 23: 2).
And again, in Chapter 30::
"And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and
Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the
Passover unto the Lord God of Israel" (II Chron. 30: 1).
"So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout ALL ISRAEL from
Beersheba even to Dan" (II Chron. 30: 5).
"Divers of Asher and Manasseh out of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to
Jerusalem" (II Chron. 30: 11).
"A multitude of people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Isaachar and Zebulun,
had not cleansed themselves" (II Chron. 30: 18).
We do not suggest that this great number of the house of Israel severed all connection
there and then with the ten-tribed kingdom, for we are told that these Israelites returned to
their possessions and cities (II Chron. 31: 1). Their hearts were certainly with their
inheritance and tribal obligations that needed re-adjusting before they could follow their
hearts and take their place with the people of Judah.