Scattered Sheep of the House of Israel

There have been many thoughts on what Yeshua meant when He said a few certain things in the Gospel of Matthew. Following you can read exactly what verses I am referring to.

Matthew 10:5-6

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

In these three verses we see Yeshua Himself telling the twelve disciples not to go find the gentiles, but instead to go find the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Then, Yeshua outright says He was only sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. These passages should give us a desire to find out exactly who the lost sheep of the House of Israel are.

Next you will see who the Old Testament refers to as scattered sheep. There is only one group of people ever mentioned as sheep throughout the Bible.

1 Kings 22:17

Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’”

Jeremiah 50:17

“Israel is like scattered sheep; The lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”

Micah 2:12

[Israel Restored] “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.

We can clearly see it is Israel who the Bible refers to as sheep, even scattered sheep. This is very significant because that means Yeshua only came for His scattered people. There is no other people group mentioned as being sheep. This makes sense considering the entire Bible is about YHWH’s love for His people, which is Israel. He marries Israel on Mount Sinai.

Exodus 19:3-6

And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

Exodus 19:8

Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

Isaiah 54:5

For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.

As we can see, the original covenant was not only to bring Israel to YHWH as their God, but also to be used as marriage vows. The house of Jacob includes all twelve tribes of Israel. YHWH gives an if/then statement. If they do this, then He will treasure them and protect them. This is similar to what a husband does for His wife. We even see the people say what is stated in the wedding vows in today era. They all said, we will do. Later, in Isaiah, YHWH says Himself that He is the Husband.

The Divorce from YHWH

Jeremiah 3:8

Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

There is a distinction between Israel and Judah mentioned here. Now, only Israel was given a certificate of divorce. That means Judah is still married to YHWH. This also means there is no way for Israel to ever return to YHWH, according to YHWH’s own marriage laws.

Deuteronomy 24:1-4

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Here we can clearly see the law gives specific mention to how a man cannot take a divorced wife back. It is sin. If YHWH were to sin, He would no longer be a Just God. If He were not a Just God, would He not be worth worshipping, He would not be perfect. There is no way He would give a Law to men that He Himself would not keep. That is hypocrisy.

Why were they scattered?

Deuteronomy 4:23-31

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples (nations), and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

Here we can see they will be scattered if they disobey the covenant made with YHWH. That is the marriage covenant. YHWH Himself will allow them to be scattered among the gentile nations. They will remain there until the “latter days”. This is quite interesting considering many Christians believe we live in the latter days now.

1 Kings 14:15

For the Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their wooden images, provoking the Lord to anger.

Nehemiah 1:8-9

Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’

Here again we see YHWH scattered them because they are unfaithful, and we see they are sent into the gentile nations. Then YHWH says, while still lost in the gentile nations, IF at that time they choose to return back to Him AND keep His commandments and do them, THEN He will gather them from out of those nations.

Deuteronomy 30:1-6

“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

In this passage, YHWH gives the prophecy that the entire Bible is based on, especially the New Testament. The curse of the Law, which comes from not following it after vowing to do so, will cause them, the Northern Kingdom of the House of Israel after the split of the kingdom of all Israel, to be scattered among all nations of the earth. YHWH will drive these people to the furthest corners of the world. It is during their exile when they remember YHWH and His Law. This is when they choose to return to these laws and obey them according to everything commanded by Him on Mount Sinai. This portion of the prophecy seems to be ignored by the New Testament. But, the rest of this prophecy is what will be familiar with. YHWH will circumcise the hearts of the believers, as well as their descendants. They will love the Lord God with all their hearts and soul, in order to live. At that point, they will be gathered together back to Him. Now, notice, they are gathered back to the land their fathers possessed, we know this is Israel, and we also know New Jerusalem comes from heaven in the area of Israel. This is an absolutely astonishing revelation.  

Jeremiah 9:13-16

And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

YHWH again says they have abandoned His law and had not obeyed His voice or followed Him commands. Instead, they chose to follow their own hearts which means they were fulfilling the desires of the flesh. These things were the things their fathers taught them. Now, it is stated outright by YHWH right here, He will scattered them among the Gentiles. Therefore, we should have no doubt that at least a portion of Israel was scattered among the gentile nations.

Jeremiah 31:10

“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’

YHWH says the one who scattered Israel, will gather Israel like they are sheep.  

Ezekiel 6:8

“Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries.

YHWH will leave a remnant, or a small amount of Israel, who escape death from the Antichrist and his army within the nations where YHWH scattered them.

Ezekiel 20:41

I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the Gentiles.

Another amazing prophecy here from YHWH. He says Israel will be accepted once He brings them out of the countries where they have been scattered. It will be because of this that YHWH will be considered holy in the eyes of the gentiles. We must remember, gentiles means outside of a covenant with YHWH.

Ezekiel 22:15

I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you.

YHWH again says He will scattered Israel among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. This should sound vaguely familiar if you know the New Testament.

1 Peter 1:1

[Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims] Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

John 7:35

Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

Both Peter and John refers to the dispersion. The Jews show their disdain for the gentiles in the gospel of John. Yeshua says where He will go, the Jews will not find Him, and this verse was their response.

2 Kings 18:9-12

Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

2 Kings 15:27-30

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

Here we have two separate occasions where the King of Assyria came in and took the Northern Kingdom of the House of Israel captive and put them into different areas of the country. Now, this happened because they chose not to obey the Law of YHWH. Now, the most important thing is not was is written, but rather what is not written. There is no mention anywhere of Israel ever coming back to their land. This makes perfect sense because the prophecy given by YHWH in Deuteronomy states they will not return until the last days. This is precisely why we never read about them coming back and why we only have Jews living in Israel today. The Jews come from the Southern Kingdom of the House of Judah. They were taken captive into Babylon, but they did return and there are mentions of this found in the scripture.

1 Chronicles 9:1

So all Israel was recorded by genealogies, and indeed, they were inscribed in the book of the kings of Israel. But Judah was carried away captive to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

Amos 7:11

For thus Amos has said: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, And Israel shall surely be led away captive From their own land.’”

Here we see both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah were taken captive separately. Jeroboam was the first king of the Northern Kingdom of the House of Israel.

Ezra 2:1

Now these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city.

These people returned Jerusalem and Judah. All these people mentioned are part of the Southern Kingdom of the House of Judah. Jerusalem is found inside the borders of the kingdom of Judah. There is no mention of Israel coming back here. Now, I have heard people try to argue this is all of Israel, but it says those who were carried away to Babylon, not Assyria. Therefore, we cannot assume it is all Israel returning. Not only that, there is no mention of any cities found outside of the boarders of Judah.