How did the Jews come to exist?
The Jews came into existence through God's sovereign covenant with Abram, a Syrian from Ur of the Chaldees. In Genesis 12, God promised to make from him a great nation, a new race called Israel. This covenant, not Abraham's prior identity, produced the Jewish people.
Les explains that the first 11 chapters of Genesis cover the first 2000 years, and then Genesis 12 introduces the covenant God made with Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. Abram was a Syrian, not a Jew; the Jews were still unknown at that time. God made a special covenant with him, saying in Genesis 12:1, 'Get thee out of thy country... and I will make of thee a great nation.' Les points out that this Abrahamic covenant was given to the man who would be the father of a race of people who had never been on the earth before. Though humanity came through Adam, Noah, his three sons, and Abram, God by His sovereignty instituted a new race or nation known as Israel. So the Jews come as a result of this covenant made with one man, and the covenant promised a nation of people, implying they would need their own geographical homeland.