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• 1 2016-03-27T11:49:17-07:00 Ten Lost Tribes of Israel 3 plain 2022-08-20T17:09:03-07:00 The ten lost tribes of Israel denotes those sons of Jacob that left the Kingdom of Israel and is a curious addition to the Prester John Letter that can likely be traced back to the author of the Letter's familiarity with the Sefer Eldad. 
  
  The story of these lost tribes has long been a topic of messianic thought. During the Middle Ages, there were a number of hypotheses as to where these tribes were, when they would return, and what that return would mean for the world.
  
  The attention to this prophecy in the Letter may help explain the early proliferation of Hebrew translations of the Letter.
  
  In addition to a familiarity with the Sefer Eldad, the Letter's author seems to be influenced, in part, by the narrative of the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, whose mention of a text describing the alleged return of one of the tribes to Africa, may have helped inspire these details. 
  
  List of 12 Tribes of Israel, as given in the Old and New Testaments