Abraham is born around 1813 BCE. According to the first five books of the Bible, God chooses Abraham to be the father of Isaac, the founder of the Jewish people. This people will be special to God, as well as an example of holiness to others around the world. Abraham leaves Ur and moves with his tribe and flocks towards Canaan. Abraham received revelation from god, and the idea of the promise land came into existence.

Most historians view the patriarchal age, along with the Exodus and the period of the biblical judges, as a late literary construct that does not relate to any particular historical era; and after a century of exhaustive archaeological investigation, no evidence has been found for a historical Abraham. It is largely concluded that the Torah was composed during the early Persian period (late-6th century BCE) as a result of tensions between Jewish landowners who had stayed in Judah during the Babylonian captivity and traced their right to the land through their "father Abraham", and the returning exiles who based their counterclaim on Moses and the Exodus tradition of the Israelites.