As the title of this series states, there are Ten Lost Tribes. Growing up, I was familiar with the legend, as well as being told that Jews today come from 3 tribes: Yehuda, Binyamin, and Levi. This leaves 10 tribes who were conquered and relocated by the Assyrian empire: Reuven, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naftali, Yissachar, Zevulun, Menashe, Efraim, and Shimon - the kingdom of Israel. However, as the map above makes quite clear there is but one issue: the tribe of Shimon was not part of the kingdom of Israel.
When and how did the number ten arise? Who is the tenth?
Like many people I’ve mentioned this too, I never thought of this problem (perhaps owing to a lack of diligent Tanach study). However, as I began preparing for the series I reached out to Dr. Daniel Stein-Kokin on the recommendation of Dr. Motti Benmelech because Dr. Stein-Kokin is the foremost expert on the legend of the Sambatyon river. Dr. Stein-Kokin agreed to record an episode on Sambatyon (episode 3 of the series) and in the course of our correspondence attached a 125-page unpublished book he had written on the question of the tenth tribe. Intrigued I began to read the word document on my phone as Dr. Stein-Kokin delved into Tanach, the apocrypha, the Roman historian Pliny, the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, and Chazal.
The unpublished book is an attempt to trace the source of the number 10 through the a myriad of sources. While Dr. Stein-Kokin’s work focused on a more general tracing of the number 10, I looked around a little in Chazal. The number first seems to come up in Melachim Aleph, 11:30 where Achiya HaShiloni siezes the garment, and tore 12 pieces, whereupon he told Yeravam to take 10 pieces, as Hashem will test the kingdom of Shlomo apart and give 10 tribes to Yeravam. The follow-up pasuk in Melachim Beis 17:6 says that the kingdom of Israel was exiled by the Assyrians, thereby implying that 10 tribes were exiled.
Interestingly, the Maharsha in Maseches Sotah 42b states that the tribe of Shimon was probably included in the Bablyonian exile and thereafter returned with Yehuda & Binyamin as they were located amidst Yehuda.
So who really was the 10th lost Tribe? Was it really Shimon even though they were located amongst the tribe of Yehuda? Was it perhaps counting part of Levi as one of the 10 by considering 9.5 Tribes as 10 (as there would be 10 distinct - albeit incomplete - tribes). I don’t have a good answer to this issue, but it is worth raising within the context of the Lost Tribes series. If anyone has any suggestions or knows of any further sources on this issue please comment below or email me nachi@seforimchatter.com.
Here's another source:
אמת ליעקב על נ"ך ח"ב
מלכים א י"ב:כ
Here are two seforim that discuss this:
1. ארץ בנימין מאת בנימין סופר - page צט and footnote 19.
2. נפלאות מתורת השי"ת - page 234 ד"ה ולדעתי