The Remnant Of Israel
Seven times the Bible speaks of Israel as a remnant. The word remnant is a translation of the Hebrew, she’eryth (Strong’s H7611). It is defined as “those who escaped, left, posterity, remainder, or residue.” In short, it refers to “those remaining or surviving” after a major calamity. Depending on context, it can refer to either those Israelites who were exiled or those remaining in the land.
During the reign of Judean King Josiah, (640-609 BC), nearly a century after the ten-tribe House of Israel was exiled, we read, “And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of [the House of] Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem.” (2Chronicles 34:9). Those few of Israel, the ten tribes, who remained in Canaan were a remnant; but Judah and Benjamin were not a remnant because this occurred before the exile of the House of Judah. The text is advising that there was a small number of people who represented the few members of the House of Israel that escaped deportation by Assyria. This does not indicate only a few were exiled, but rather that only a few escaped deportation.
Critics created the phrase, “the myth of the empty land” in claiming that very few Israelites or Judahites were ever exiled from the land of Palestine, and that there were no “lost tribes of Israel.”
In countering this, Dr. William Schniedewind reported, “In the seventh century [B.C.], at the end of the monarchy, there are at least 116 sites in Judah (cities, towns, and villages). In the sixth century (in the Babylonian period) the number drops to 41 sites… 92 of the 116 sites of the monarchic period were abandoned in the Babylonian period… Eighty percent of the cities, towns, and villages were abandoned or destroyed in the sixth century…In the last days of the Judean monarchy, we have a relatively densely populated, economically prosperous urban state. This picture radically changes in the Babylonian period.” “In Search of the Exile” pp.4-6.
The Prophet Isaiah speaks of Israel being a remnant in his own era: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of [the House of] Israel [after 721 B.C. exile], and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob [=Judah; this is the Assyrian assault of 701 BC on Judah], shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.” (Isa. 10:20) Most of the Houses of Israel and Judah were exiled by Assyria. Those in the city of Jerusalem itself escaped when the assault on the city failed, and they are not referred to here as a remnant because the entire city was saved. (2Ki. 19:32-36)
The Prophet Jeremiah, in chapter 6, verse 9, writing in approx. 612 B.C., a century after the exile of the House of Israel, says, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.” The House of Israel was symbolized as a grapevine (see Isa. 5). They were “thoroughly gleaned,” meaning that nearly all of the House of Israel were exiled during the seventh and eighth centuries, B.C. in a series of several Assyrian deportations.
The Prophet Jeremiah, in that wonderful chapter 31, says, “For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of [the House of] Israel.” (v.7) Judah was not yet exiled at this time, but the House of Israel was a dispersed remnant, cast out of Palestine to other lands.
The Prophet Ezekiel reported, “And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died.” The name Pelatiah implies one who escaped or is delivered. “Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.” (Ezk. 11:13-16)
The phrase, “men of thy kindred” is translated from the Hebrew meaning “your blood relatives” (ge’ūllāṯeḵā) and is translated “fellow exiles” in the Septuagint and Syriac texts (which has gāiûṯeḵā). After the Assyrian invasions of 732 to 701 B.C., the residue of Judah—the inhabitants of Jerusalem—made it clear that the House of Israel was not welcome to return. In response, God said that the exiles of the ten tribes would migrate to new lands where the Lord would grant them the safety of a “sanctuary” (Hebrew, mikdash, a holy or consecrated place). Israel’s new home would, in effect, be a new “holy land.”
In a seeming irony, the Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “Those in exile (whom God had just said were the true remnant) were far away from the Lord.” The ten tribes were far away both religiously and geographically. They had become “Gentilized” heathens who had forgotten their religion, birthplace, and national identity. Yet that would change when the Gospel was brought to them and they became “Christendom,” Christ’s Kingdom on earth.
The Prophet Zephaniah wrote, “The remnant of [the House of] Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” (Zeph. 3:13) Zephaniah wrote between 640-609 BC, between the exiles of Israel and Judah. The forecast of Israel’s impending righteousness presages the European Reformation, and the statement that the dispersed House of Israel would no longer suffer persecution confirms the promise to David that they would be restored in a new land “that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime.” (2 Sam. 7:10) This is an indication of a new sparsely settled land, which in that era could only be the land of early northern Europe.
The Prophet Micah wrote in chapter 2, verse 12, “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of [the House of] Israel; I will put them [House of Israel] together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.” Micah prophesied 740-690 BC, and gave this testimony after the first three invasions and deportations of the House of Israel, long before the exile of Judah. Here the exiles are termed a remnant, but evidently a very large assemblage made up of a multitude of people. This indicates that there were a great number of deportees, and there was yet a fourth deportation to come. The large mass of scattered exiles would be regathered and reunited; it would be fulfilled, not in Palestine, but in the new land promised to David as noted above. Most of any remaining members of the House of Israel would be dispersed in the little-known fourth exile of 676 B.C. (2 Chron. 33:11; Hos. 1:6; Ezra 4:2) to join their brethren previously exiled. (“The Assyrian Invasions and Deportations of Israel,” J. Llewellyn Thomas).
