What part did Abraham play in early Hebrew history?

A:

Abraham played a quite important part in early Hebrew tradition, but no part in history.

In tradition, Abraham was the forefather of the Hebrew people, as well as of the Arabs and other Semitic peoples. He worshipped the God of the Hebrews, and in later tradition was the first to recognise that there is only one God. His God promised him that his descendants would occupy the Promised Land - the land belonging to the Canaanites.

Abraham did not play a part in Hebrew history, simply because he did not really exist. Scholars find that many of the places and events associated with Abraham did not yet exist at that time, or could not have happened during the time attributed to Abraham. Even his astounding lifespan has now been shown to have been derived from numerology, using a formula based on the magic number 17.