How did the nation of Israel, now known as the Jews, originate?
At approximately 2,000 B.C., God established a separate nation by promising Abraham that a nation of people would come from him. That nation came through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, becoming the nation of Israel, which is now normally referred to as the Jews.
Les explains that after Creation, Adam, the flood, and the Tower of Babel, at 2,000 B.C. God did something totally different. Still working outside the mainstream of Adam, He pulled off one separate nation by promising Abram, or Abraham, that out of him would come a nation of people. That nation, Israel, would come by virtue of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and is normally referred to now as the Jews. Les also notes that throughout the Old Testament economy it was predominantly Jew only with exceptions, because God is sovereign and can make His exceptions.