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, and Assyria began her decline almost immediately after this conquest. By 650 BC, Assyria was in an advanced state of decline, which allowed some Israelites to become aggressive and mount a guerilla war against their captors, weakening Assyria further. A confederation of Babylonians and Medes captured Nineveh, Assyria's capital, in 612 BC. Some Israelites later banded together to become the Scythians, a fierce and warlike people, and centuries later merged with others to form the Parthians, who contained Roman armies at the Euphrates River. However, the majority of Israelites left the Middle East in the decades following Assyria's fall, escaping through passes over the Caucasus Mountains, one of which was known as the Pass of Israel. Over time, the Israelites were scattered among all nations, with evidence suggesting they migrated north and west, into islands some distance away, and are principally located to the north and west of Jerusalem and in isles afar off.

The conventional wisdom and most Christian teachers declare the house of Israel, the northern ten tribes led by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, to be lost. They assert that the people of Israel disappeared from the sight of history, with no records tracing their movements and no nations or empires claiming descent from Israel. Some even proclaim them to be extinct, suggesting that other nations absorbed them, and they became part of other groups like Syrians, Persians, or Medes. Others claim that the Jews absorbed them into their nation during the Babylonian exile. However, the Bible provides multiple clues as to where they live today, indicating that they are not lost to God, who knows exactly where they are.

God first uses the name Israel to identify Jacob, the progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Genesis 48:16, God through Jacob places the name Israel on the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, not Judah, indicating a distinction between Judah and the other tribes. By the time of King Saul, God begins to distinguish Israel from Judah, applying the name Israel to the ten tribes and not to Judah. More than 250 years before they became known as the Ten Lost Tribes, God reveals that this division was already in place. After their deportation by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 722 BCE, the history of the house of Israel takes a path of historical oblivion, unlike the house of Judah. The Bible clearly and consistently identifies as Israel those nations that have become known as the Ten Lost Tribes, rather than the house of Judah. To themselves and the world, the house of Israel may indeed be lost, but not to God, as He states in Amos 9:9 that He will sift the house of Israel among all nations, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. The Bible tells of a time at the end of this age when God will again unite the house of Israel and the house of Judah, implying that the house of Israel must exist today.