“Our ancestors have told us the deeds You performed in their time.” (44:2)

The sacred texts in our religious traditions are stories that have come to us from our ancestors. Archeology can confirm that there was a King David and draw maps of the city of David, but we can only learn the character of David, both good and bad, from Biblical stories. The Bible, even the Torah, is not as much a book of law (although it contains long passages of law) as it is a book of stories. We learn a set of values from the accounts of Biblical characters, God included, filtered through centuries of Israelite and Jewish life.