God first uses the name Israel to identify Jacob, the progenitor of the twelve tribes, as seen in Genesis 32:28, where He renames Jacob Israel for having struggled with God and men and prevailed. From this point, the Bible uses Jacob and Israel interchangeably. In Genesis 48:16, God through Jacob places the name Israel on the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, not on Judah, indicating a distinction in God's view. Initially, the term house of Israel refers to all tribes, but by the time of King Saul, God begins to distinguish Israel from Judah, applying the name Israel specifically to the ten tribes and not to Judah, except when referring to all the children of Israel collectively. This division is evident well before the split after Solomon's reign, and after the deportation by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 722 BCE, the house of Israel, known as the Ten Lost Tribes, takes a path of historical oblivion. God confirms in Amos 9:9 that He will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground, indicating that though they may be lost to themselves and the world, they are not lost to Him. The Bible speaks of a future reunification of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, affirming that the house of Israel must still exist today, hidden or sifted among the nations.

Assyria conquered the ten-tribed Kingdom of Israel in 718 BC and deported the Israelites en masse to what is now northern Iran, just south of the Caspian Sea. The siege of Samaria, Israel's capital, lasted three years, marking a difficult conquest for Assyria, which began to decline almost immediately afterward. By 650 BC, Assyria was in an advanced state of decline, allowing some Israelites to become aggressive and mount guerilla warfare against their captors, weakening Assyria further. A few decades after Assyria's fall in 612 BC, many Israelites left the Middle East, escaping through passes over the Caucasus Mountains, one of which was known as the Pass of Israel. The prophet Amos, in Amos 9:9, describes God's action toward Israel as sifting grain in a sieve, scattering the house of Israel among all nations while ensuring not the smallest grain falls to the ground. God separates and scatters His people, yet keeps track of every Israelite. God's Word provides evidence of where this sifting placed the Israelites over time, indicating where to look for Israel and from where He will gather them in the last days. Israel migrated north and west into distant islands, and remains scattered around the world, principally to the north and west of Jerusalem and in far-off isles, until God re-gathers them.