to everything else, because every Jew of the Second Temple period knew that the religious life was first and foremost a matter of reliance on God. This axiom of faith in Judaism is amply confirmed by the literature of the predestruction period, which is replete with references to faith in Yahweh.9 However, it is equally clear from these sources that faith always assumed a nationalistic bias. That is to say, belief in the God of Israel was always to be accompanied by a steadfast commitment to the