The second Diaspora occurred in 597 BC. Only, at the end of that
captivity, the Jews from the Southern Kingdom (Judah and
Benjamin) returned to the land of Palestine and restored
Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Keep in mind, Hebrews from the
Northern Kingdom who remained loyal to Solomon's son Rehoboam,
and those who escaped from the Assyrians in 722 BC, moved to the
Southern Kingdom, maintaining the unbroken tribal identity of
Jacob. There are not, and never were, any "10 Lost Tribes of
Israel." They were simply absorbed by Judah and like the
Judahites today, are all collectively referred to as "Jews," the
slang term for those of the tribe of Judah. The Jews from the
Northern Kingdom who remained in the land married Aramaeans,
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Caanites, Armenians, Moabites, Circassians
and a host of other ethnic groups. Over the years, they were
culturally assimilated into what is now Syria, Jordan, Lebanon,
Iraq and Saudi Arabia so completely they no longer existed as
Jews, nor acknowledge any Jewish an