of such judgement, but also hastening the day of his final deliverance from their present enemies. The pursuit of holiness was serious and purposeful. It was a total social programme—not just a fringe of hyper-religious piety. The second feature was the upsurge of apocalyptic, messianic hope. As persecution continued and as the nation experienced martyrdoms and great suffering, there developed hopes of a final climactic intervention by God himself, as the prophets had foretold. He would establish