Lost Ten Tribes in Four Quarters of Earth

Joseph Fielding McConkie

Question: Now that Israel has been scattered, do we have any scriptural clues as to the whereabouts of the lost tribes?

Clues, no. Plain statements, yes. On this matter we have the united testimony of the Standard Works.

Enoch in the prophetic description of the last days spoke of "righteousness and truth" sweeping the four quarters of the earth "as with a flood," to gather out the "elect" and bring them to the New Jerusalem (Moses 7:62). In the biblical statements we begin with Moses, the first prophet to prophesy to the nation of Israel. Moses, as we have already seen, prophesied that all the tribes of Israel would be scattered to the ends of the earth should they break that covenant that entitled them to a promised inheritance in the land of Palestine. Yet, he also prophesied of a day of gathering and restoration, the responsibility for which he placed upon the shoulders of the tribe of Joseph, or more specifically, Ephraim and Manasseh. Like the horns of unicorns, he said, they would gather the people from the ends of the earth (Deut 33:17; 30:3). In the New Testament, Christ spoke of gathering the "elect from the four winds" (Matt 24:31) and James addressed his epistle "to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (Jas 1:1).

Describing this day of restoration, Isaiah said that the Lord would "assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa 11:12). To Ezekiel the Lord said, "I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered" (Ezek 11:17). Again he said: "I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries" (Ezek 34:13). And still again he said, "I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side" (Ezek 37:21.)

Mormon, in like manner, taught: "I write unto all the ends of the earth; yea, unto you, twelve tribes of Israel" (Morm 3:18). In fact, the Book of Mormon tells us that the Three Nephites "shall minister unto all the scattered tribes of Israel, and unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, and shall bring out of them unto Jesus many souls" (3 Ne 28:29). With specific reference to the lost tribes rather than all the house of Israel, Nephi said they had been "scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations" (1 Ne 22:3, 4, 5). The dispersion of all the tribes of Israel is taught with unquestioned authority in 3 Nephi. Consider, for instance, these words: Yea, and surely shall he again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God. And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the earth. And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in his own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them. And then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and then shall they be gathered in from the four quarters of the earth unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed; yea, as the Lord liveth so shall it be. Amen. (3 Nephi 5:23 26, emphasis added.)

Indeed, we are told that the very purpose of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was to "gather in, from their long dispersion" the "house of Israel" (3 Ne 21:1), or as Moroni stated it, "the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord" (Morm 8:15; cf 3 Ne 21:26, 27).

The Lord told Joseph Smith that the Church had been organized that He might gather the "elect from the four quarters of the earth, even as many as will believe in [him], and hearken unto [his] voice" (D&C 33:5 6). Joseph Smith was also told that the sealing of the one hundred and forty four thousand, twelve thousand out of each tribe, would be high priests, ordained "out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people" upon the earth (D&C 77:11). As Joseph Smith dedicated the first temple of our dispensation, he prayed that "all the scattered remnants of Israel," who he said had "been driven to the ends of the earth," might "come to a knowledge of the truth, believe in the Messiah, and be redeemed" (D&C 109:67). When the Prophet said that John the Revelator was with the ten tribes, he said he was "to prepare them for their return from their long dispersion to again possess the land of their fathers." [History of the Church, 1:176.] (from A Scriptural Search for the Ten Tribes & Other Things We Lost, BYU, Annual Religious Education Faculty Summer Lecture, June 1987.)