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There were hundreds of thousands of Israelites carried away by the Assyrians into the empire and assimilated with the gentiles of the regions....

But many were not assimilated. Besides, the vast majoirty of Gentiles—Greeks and Romans, Hawaiians, Chinese, etc. are not members of the House of Israel...so the New Covenant in no way applies to them.

Add if Jesus was sent only for those "absorbed" by Assyrians, he was preaching in the wrong place (Palestine) and the wrong time (700 years later)! Obviously he considered the "lost sheep" the Pharisees and the Sadducees with whom he had heated exchanges. Besides, he wans't preaching and teaching and looking for the lost tribes in Anadolia, Assyria or Alexandria, but right, smack in Roman-occupied Israel.

(James 1:1 KJV) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

(Gen 49:1 KJV) And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

(Ezek 37:15 KJV) The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

(Ezek 37:16 KJV) Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

(Ezek 37:17 KJV) And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

(Ezek 37:18 KJV) And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?

(Ezek 37:19 KJV) Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

(Ezek 37:20 KJV) And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

(Ezek 37:21 KJV) And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

(Ezek 37:22 KJV) And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

(Ezek 37:23 KJV) Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

(Ezek 37:24 KJV) And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.

Something that I don't think we take into consideration is the Promise Yahweh made to Abraham. This Promise was made 4 times to Abraham that his descendants would be “as many as the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea.” This Promise was given to Isaac on one occasion and then to Jacob on three occasions. It was very important that Yahweh repeated this Promise of innumerable, uncountable descendants EIGHT times. Over and over the Promise was repeated and referred to by the prophets, so we must pay attention to this concept.

Currently Ishmael who had twelve sons has approximately 235,000,000 Arab descendants. Israel has “countable” 16,000,000. So did Yahweh lie? Gen. 22, Yahweh states Isaac is Abraham's only son so Ishmael cannot be part of the Promise. According to the above figures Jacob is missing at least 220,000,000 people today. Hmmm...wonder where they are or if I choose to deny this Promise, I call Yahweh a liar. Ouch! don't think I want to do that.