the first time in the account of the persecution under Antiochus IV in II Maccabees or its source in Jason of Cyrene, and conveys what even the ancient world found to be an astonishing state of affairs: the word means both political and genetic association with the Jewish nation and exclusive belief in the one God of Israel, together with observance of the Torah given by him.1 From this it follows that if our work is to do justice to its subject it cannot be limited to ‘religious’ questions, but