Tribes

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Henry wonders:
"10 Lost Tribes? Thought there were ten tribes, one lost. A-and isn't
the lost tribe Ethiopians, Haile Selasie the "Lion of Judah" and all?"

Nope, there were orignally 12 tribes of Israel (one from each of the
12 sons or grandsons of Jacob).  10 of these tribes, which settled in
the northern part of Canaan ("Israel" after the partition that followed
the death of King Solomon) were led into exile by the Assyrians and
never returned.

Many claims have been made for that ancestry besides the Celts, including
native Americans and even Japanese!  The Coptic Christians of Ethiopia
claim their origin from the conversion of an Abyssian (Ethopian) slave
by St. Phillip.  (And "Judah" is the common name for the two remaining
tribes that became the founding point of modern Judaism.)  That group
itself had also been in exile--in Babylon but returned after the Persians
conquered 
Babylon.

A-and let's not even talk about the Rastafarians!

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)