The Tribes That Were Not Lost (Chapter 2) - The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel

Away in the north of the modern State of Israel, in what was once the kingdom of Israel, there lives another ancient Israel. The Samaritans, as they are generally known today, are “another ancient Israel” in the way of every group discussed in this book. They present another construction of Israelite identity and history, with their own traditions and practices, and their own account of what happened to Israel’s tribes. In fact, they even have their own Torah, the so-called “Samaritan Pentateuch,” which is similar in most respects, different in a few crucial ones. They have their own holy mountain, Mt. Gerizim, which is to them what the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was to the Judahites and is, to some extent, to the Jewish people. They have their own priests of the line of Aaron; their own traditions of descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and of course, their own claims to an identification with the twelve tribes of Israel. In fact, the Samaritans are still organized by tribe even today. The last Benjaminite died in 1968, but Ephraimites, Manassites, and Levites remain.