ABSTRACT
Scripture’s stories concern Israelites not only in biblical days but throughout history. The “Israel” of which Judaism speaks lives in an eternal present tense, in which past, present, and future coincide. The great occasions of Israel’s past mark the present as well. Judaists take for granted that Scripture speaks of them, its narratives tell their story. Scripture’s narrative is taken for granted as history, and the facts of that history – God’s promises to Abraham, God’s covenant at Sinai with Israel – prove propositions of theology in an eternal present. Scripture accounts for the present in the past and points toward the future in the present.
