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I believe it is recorded that some northern kingdom residents migrated to Judah because they didn't condone the behavior there before the Assyrians and before Babylon. Also there were remnants of the northern kingdom that weren't rounded up and escaped the Assyrians.

And we have a "sands of the sea" problem, if the northern kingdom was just simply assimilated into the surrounding people at the time.

There is one possible fulfillment of the prophecy.

Matthew 10;5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel

That seems pretty clear. I can't see it referring to the remnants of Judah there at the time. They had already been preached to, and the disciples were themselves Judah, or Benjamin, or Levite. Where, then, did the disciples go?

Any other reasoning that the prophecy was fulfilled demands that the House of Israel returned to the homeland in vast (sands of the sea) numbers, which there is no evidence of.

If the Jews of today are sole surviving remnants of all of Israel and Judah, there are only 4 or 5 million, and not a foretold blessing to all nations, except for some scientific inventions here and there.

In the absence of direct, agreed upon and compelling evidence to the contrary, the plain wording of the prophecy has to be assumed.

And we have a "sands of the sea" problem, if the northern kingdom was just simply assimilated into the surrounding people at the time.

Not really -- the term is a metaphor, you can't be in reality as numerous as the sands of the sea unless we go an colonise the galaxy and become a population of trillions.

It would be logical and historically accurate to say that the population would have been assimilated into neighbouring, similar groups, especially considering that the northerners were actually worshipping the gods of their neighbours and probably intermingling.

But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel

The term Israel and Judah are used interchangeably at times after the Exile. That would suggest a merging of the peoples and identities.

Any other reasoning that the prophecy was fulfilled demands that the House of Israel returned to the homeland in vast (sands of the sea) numbers, which there is no evidence of.

as I said, they returned in vast numbers -- remember that even 100,000 IS a vast number and definitely so in ancient times

If the Jews of today are sole surviving remnants of all of Israel and Judah, there are only 4 or 5 million, and not a foretold blessing to all nations, except for some scientific inventions here and there.

The Jews of the world number 24 MILLION AT LEAST many jews, northern israelies etc married outside or merged, so Iwoudl say that definitely middle easterners have israeli ancestors, to some extent Iranis, Indians, Europeans etc. (most of those in regions easily accessible by persons living in the Roman Empire) have some Jewish blood, Chinese, Africans, native Americans would have very little if at all

Prophecy fulfilled doesn't ring true, or fit all of the necessary specs in the Hosea prophecy or the sticks prophecy. To interpret them in the way you do, one must labor numerous assumptions and discount population numbers.

The prophecy DOES ring true and most important -- it is an OLD TESTAMENT prophecy, with complete closure with the Resurrection. The prophecies of the OT are closed once and for all with Christ's death, the OT ended with his Birth. Any prophecy concerning our times would be contained in the NEw testament