[Avodah] Ten Lost Tribes

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Mar 03, 2016 at 09:12:22PM -0500, Micha Berger wrote:
: Malkhus Yehudah included Yehudah, Shim'on and Binyamin, as well as most
: of Levi (they tended to prefer proximity to Y-m). Shim'on only got lost
: in the sense that as they only held a constellation of cities within
: Yehudah's territory, they assimilated into Yehudah. But they should be
: among today's Jews....

I couldn't find anyone commenting on 

Personally, I flip-flop between two theories:

1- They got "scattered" into cities within Yehudah. This makes the most
sense in terms of seifer Yehoshua. E.g. the kohanim are given cities in
Yehudah, Binyamin and Shim'on, implying that Shim'on's land is nearer
the Har haBayis, and that they had territory between the cities that are
named in Yehoshua, in which the kohanic cities were located.

In which case, the most likely eventuality is the Shim'on got lost by
being assimilated into Yehudah. Which would not put them with the other
9 lost shevatim. Which is why I asked my opening question.

2- I saw someone suggest once that Shim'on's cities were on Yehudah's
border, not in the middle. Of course, it would have been too convenient
for me to have remembered who wrote the paper, sources, details, and
whether it was someone worth taking seriously.

A number of shevatim were handed cities on the border with another
sheivet. Eg Gad receiving the cities of th Gil'ad, on the border with
Menasheh. Yehoshua 13:25 refers to them as being on the border, it's
not my deduction. So, this would be consistent.

Also, the land west of Yehudah was that of the Pelishtim. The northern
part of Pelishti land is promised to Dan, which is where we find Shimshon
(from Dan), Bet Shemesh, etc... (In what we now call "the Dan Region".)
Dan ends up in the north, though, between Nephtai and Ish Menasheh,
above the headwaters that feed the Yardein and the Kineret.

So if Shim'on was originally supposed to be west of Yehudah and south
of Dan, their land would also have been unconquerable. Which makes the
idea that they were left with only their border cities right up against
Yehudah quote plausible.

If it weren't for the kohein thing (above). The west border of Yehudah
is further from the BHMQ (or Shilo) than Ephraim (N of most of Binyamin
and of Dan's original land) or West Menasheh (whose SE corner bordered
Binyamin).

And where were these cities? Other cities along the same border? Cities
in the messianic Shim'on estate that would include Gaza, to begiven to
the kohanim if/when Shim'on ever got the allegedly (according to this
theory) promised land?

OTOH, the advantage is that if would make it far more likely for Shim'on
to be taken in the same manner as Malkhus Yisrael. The army did go
as far as Lakhish, and Chizqiyahu buys it bck (Melachim 2 18:14-17),
but ironically they leave Lakhish by moving the soldiers to seige Y-m
itself (thus the need for a water tunnel). Either way, this would put
the purported border-Shim'on on the wrong side of the Syrian army. They
did not only take the north, but wrap around Yehudah from the west.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "'When Adar enters, we increase our joy'
micha at aishdas.org         'Joy is nothing but Torah.'
http://www.aishdas.org    'And whoever does more, he is praiseworthy.'"
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rav Dovid Lifshitz zt"l