Tribe of Joseph - Fate

Fate

As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territories of Manasseh and Ephraim were conquered by the Assyrian Empire, Assyrian and the tribe exiled; the manner of their exile lead to their further history being lost. However, despite an ethnic connection to Ephraim, Benjamin instead associated with the southern tribes and became part of the Kingdom of Judah, and as a result was subjected to the Babylonian captivity; when the captivity ended, the distinction between Benjamin and the other tribes in the kingdom of Judah were lost in favour of a common identity as Jews.

Despite the loss of the further history of Manasseh and Ephraim, several modern day groups claim descent from them, with varying levels of academic and rabbinical support. The Yusufzai tribe (literal translation The Sons of Joseph) of the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, who also collectively refers to themselves as the "Bani Israel", have a long history connecting them to the exiled Kingdom of Israel. The Samaritans claims that some of their adherents are descended from these tribes, and many Persian Jews claim to be descendants of Ephraim. Many Samaritans claim decent from the grandchildren of Joseph under four main septs. These being his grandsons Danfi, Tsedakah, Mafraj and Sarawi Further afield, in northeast India, the Mizo Jews claim descent from Manasseh, and call themselves Bnei Menashe; in 2005 Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, announced that he regarded this claim to be true, which under the Law of Return allows them to migrate to Israel, as long as they formally convert to Israel's official form of Judaism. Similar traditions to the Mizo Jews exist among the Telugu Jews, in South India, who claim descent from Ephraim, and call themselves Bene Ephraim.

Considered less plausible by academic and Jewish authorities are the claims of several western Christian and related groups, in particular those of the Church of God in Christ which claims that the whole UK is the direct descendant of Ephraim, and that the whole USA is the direct descendant of Manasseh, based on the interpretation that Jacob had said these two tribes would become the most supreme nations in the world. Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) believe themselves to be descended from Manasseh and Ephraim (in a "grafted in" sense of ancestry), believing that the lost tribes are being restored in the latter days (meaning now) as prophesied by Isaiah; some believe that this would be the fulfillment of part of the Blessing of Jacob, where it states that Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall with the interpretation that the wall is the ocean. Some adherents of Messianic Judaism also regard themselves as part of Joseph on the basis that, regardless of any genetic connection which may or may not exist, they observe the Torah and interpret parts of the Tanakh in certain ways.