Certain aspects show a relatively close parallel to customs described in the Genesis account concerning the patriarchs. The practice of a childless couple’s adopting a son, whether freeborn or slave, to care for them, bury them, and be their heir, shows a similarity to the statement by Abraham concerning his trusted slave Eliezer at Genesis 15:2. The selling of birthrights is described, recalling the case of Jacob and Esau. (Ge 25:29-34) The texts also show that possession of the family gods, often small clay figurines, was viewed as similar to holding a title deed, so that the one possessing the gods was considered to hold the right to the property or the inheritance thereof. This may illustrate the situation involving Rachel’s taking her father’s teraphim and his great concern for their recovery.​—Ge 31:14-16, 19, 25-35.

Egypt. The closest view given in the Bible of Egypt centers around Joseph’s entry there and the subsequent arrival and sojourn of the entire family of Jacob in that land. Archaeological finds show this picture to be an extremely accurate one, and one that could not reasonably have been thus presented by a writer living at a much later time (as some critics have tried to say was the case with the recorder of that portion of the Genesis account). As the book New Light on Hebrew Origins, by J. G. Duncan (1936, p. 174), states concerning the writer of the account about Joseph: “He employs the correct title in use and exactly as it was used at the period referred to, and, where there is no Hebrew equivalent, he simply adopts the Egyptian word and transliterates it into Hebrew.” The Egyptian names, the position of Joseph as Potiphar’s house manager, the prison houses, the titles “the chief of the cupbearers” and “the chief of the bakers,” the importance placed on dreams by the Egyptians, the practice of Egyptian bakers of carrying baskets of bread on their heads (Ge 40:1, 2, 16, 17), the position as prime minister and food administrator accorded Joseph by Pharaoh, the manner of inducting him into office, the Egyptian detestation of herders of sheep, the strong influence of magicians in the Egyptian court, the settling of the sojourning Israelites in the land of Goshen, the Egyptian burial practices​—all these and many other points described in the Bible record are clearly substantiated by the archaeological evidence produced in Egypt.​—Ge 39:1–47:27; 50:1-3.

Of particular interest was the appearance of the names of Peleg, Serug, Nahor, Terah, and Haran, all listed as cities of northern Mesopotamia and reflecting the names of the relatives of Abraham.​—Ge 11:17-32.