Note 525 — Chapter V · PRE-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE ESSENES
Reading edition
The earliest document quoted is the part of the Book of Enoch which Prof. Charles considers was written between 166-161 B.C.; the latest, the Fourth Book of Esdras, which he puts at 90 A.D. Yet he shows that the hatred of the Gentiles and the hope that they would be eternally destroyed or made slaves to Israel were present many centuries earlier and are to be found in the writings attributed to Ezekiel, Haggai, Joel, and Zachariah, as well as in Isaiah. Cf. Crit. Hist. p. 160.