Where did the nation of Israel begin?
The nation of Israel began when God separated Abram from his family in Ur of the Chaldees, drawing him out of the Gentile stream of humanity. God declared Abram father of the Jewish race; technically, the first actual Jew would be Isaac, his son.
Les explains that this answers a common question: the Gentile line is the mainstream of humanity coming from Adam, through the three sons of Noah, and through the nations scattered at the tower of Babel. Out of that Gentile stream, God pulled the little nation of Israel by separating the man Abraham. Abraham was not originally a Jew; he was born of Syrian parents, and Isaac and Jacob also took wives from Syrian family connections. Yet by God's decree and sovereignty, God declares Abram the father of the Jewish race. The Jew begins when God separated Abram out of his family in Ur of the Chaldees, and through his wife, a half sister, he had the first son, Isaac. So, technically, the first real Jew would be Isaac, though God refers to Abraham as the father of the Jewish people.