The Assyrian Captivity of the Joes

Assyria began invading and conquering parts of Israel in 740 BCE where the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and eastern half-tribe of Manasseh were carried captive to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan (I Chronicles 5:26; II Kings 15:29).

The nearly twenty year charge was finished in 722 BCE with the destruction of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom (II Kings 17:3-6). A mere 27,290 captives were deported from Samaria (certainly much less than the number deported in the previous 19 years). It can also be assumed that many Israelites voluntarily fled with Phoenicians to remote allied Phoenician-Israelite settlements via the sea (such as Carthage and Punic cities in Iberia) and to any other region out of reach to the Assyrians because of distance or mutual hostility toward Assyria. Some Israelites of course fled to Judean lands in the south, but this is less likely to have occurred in mass due to hostilities between Israel and Judah and due to the fact that Judah too was being besieged. For more details on the Tyre-Sidon connection, read the article Phoenician-Israelite Colonies.

The Babylonian Captivity of the Jews

About 130 years after Israel’s deportations, Babylon invaded the Southern Kingdom of Judah and took the first captives in 597 BCE. There were two more deportations in 587 and 582 BCE.

After the Persians conquered Babylonia, Cyrus granted the Jews permission to return to their native land and rebuild the Temple in 537 BCE. It is believed that only 40,000 returned, but it is probable many more migrated back home to Judea in later years (the Jewish people would have a home in "Jewdea" for about 600 more years before the Romans would massacre hundreds of thousands in and around 70 CE when they destroyed the Second Temple).

Timeline of Israel (Joseph) and Jewdah