Posted by Ray Kidder on 8/29/2009, 11:59 am, in reply to "Re: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth"
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Searcher,
I agree with much of your post.
It is my understanding that the "10 lost tribes of Israel" refers to the the uncertain history of the Kingdom of Isreal after what is recorded here in 2 Kings 18 (NKJV):
9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
My suspicians are that after they were carried way to Assyria, these people from the Jewish Kingdom (that excluded the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but contained the other 10 tribes) married Assyrians, and perhaps wandered off to other nations in the middle east. Some of their religious belief probably survived such that their descendants were found in various places in the world, following some of the practices commanded in the Torah (e.g. the Samaritans of the first century).
Can you tell me what happened to these people from the 10 tribes after what is recorded in 2 Kings 18?
The Kingdom of Judah's fate was recorded in the rest of the Old Testament.
You wrote:
"James is clearly written to the Jews."
This is from James 2 (NKJV):
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
At this time, there were many Jews who had rejected Jesus as the son of God, so I hold to the traditional teaching that James was written to Jewish Christians, as indicated by chapter 2, verse 1.
You wrote:
"Don't confuse 'the whole law of Moses' with the works of righteousness that are part of faith. The righteousness by faith is not by works which we ourselves have done. We are His workmanship."
I may agree with what you have written here. Are you referring to Romans 1:5 (NKJV), that mentions oberience to the faith, as well as Romans 16:26:?
5 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
26 but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—
Were you also thinking of this passage from Ephesians 2 (NKJV)?:
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
In addition, were you thinking of these verses from Galatians 5 (NKJV):
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
Isn't love the fulfillment of the law, as mentioned here in Romans 13 (NKJV):
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The law of liberty is mentioned here in James 1 (NKJV):
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Is this law of liberty the law of loving one's neighbor as himself?
Ray Kidder
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