Did only Jews return from Babylon?

Hi David,

FYI, I agree with you over who the ten northern tribes/House of Israel/Ephraim is.

You had an article where you said, "If you check the records of those who returned from the Babylonian exile it becomes clear that only those from the Southern tribes of Benjamin, Levi, and Judah returned."

I was wondering how you handled 1 Chronicles 9:3 which would seem to be a clear refutation of that statement.

Fletch
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Shalom Fletch,

You were referring to my article, The Plain Truth About the "Lost Ten Tribes" and Why You Need to Know!
Ezra and Nehemiah list the tribes of Levi, Benjamin and Judah by name as exiles who returned from Babylon. I'm sure there were a few exceptions to the rule (since we have Anna of the Tribe of Asher in the New Testament) but I wouldn't make them the rule, but from what you've shared it's apparent some from Ephraim and Manasseh also joined with Judah so I've corrected my article to include that Scripture, thank you.

I forwarded your legitimate question to Yair Davidiy of Brit Am Israel and he graciously provides the additional information:

The verse says,

[1-Chronicles 9:3] AND IN JERUSALEM DWELT OF THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH, AND

OF THE CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN, AND OF THE CHILDREN OF EPHRAIM, AND MANASSEH.

[1-Chronicles 9:4] UTHAI THE SON OF AMMIHUD, THE SON OF OMRI, THE SON OF IMRI, THE SON OF BANI, OF THE CHILDREN OF PHAREZ THE SON OF JUDAH.

Here people from Ephraim and Manasseh are recalled alongside those of Judah and Benjamin and then the passage continues giving the list of names and recalls people from Judah and then from Benjamin (1-Chronicles 9:7) and so on. Throughout the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah lists of names of those who returned are given and they are all from the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

We see however from verse 1-Chronicles 9:3 that there were there people from other Tribes. This is explained best by Nachmanides (Book of Redemption, chapter one) http://britam.org/ShortRETURN.htm

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These are they who returned under Ezra with the Jews from Babylon. They were not expressly mentioned by their tribes since they were attached to Judah. They all settled in the cities of Judah. There was no Redemption for the Ten Tribes who remained in exile…

<<...in the time of the Second Temple a few refugees from the other tribes also came up. They did not come from all of the other tribes but only from Ephraim and Menasseh. [Another authority however, Tosefot in Arakin 32;a, says that, “from each and every tribe a few returned”]. These few were not enough to be termed a tribe in their own right or even part of a tribe. Due to their minority position they were included amongst the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin and dwelt in their cities. This Second Redemption was not meant for the other tribes…

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That about sums it up. There are amongst Judah people from ALL the Tribes of Israel. Nevertheless Judah is dominated by the Tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi which receive their Tribal expression through Judah.

Members of the other Tribes in Judah actually belong to Joseph but they are in Judah for representative purposes and they are subordinate to Judah. Their Tribal expression achieve with the greater body of their own Tribe in Exile amongst the Lost Ten Tribes.

See the shorter and longer (complete) version of Nachmanides on our web site.

http://britam.org/ShortRETURN.htm

http://britam.org/RETURN.htm

See also our other writings and the upcoming translation of the Maharal for more on this issue.

See also our article "The Completeness of the Exile"

http://www.britam.org/CompleteExile.html