Of the sepulchre I have nothing else to write than what St. Jerome wrote in Paula’s Epitaph [Epistle]: [that] it existed even in his own time, and indeed [was] still in great esteem and honor. “The sepulchres,” he says, “of Jesus [Joshua] son of Nun, and of Eleazar son of Aaron the Priest, in Mount Ephraim, Paula venerated from the [opposite] region — of whom the one is buried in Thamnathsare, on the north side of Mount Gaas; the other in Gabaa [Gibeah] of Phinees his son.” Brocardus [Burchard], in [his] Description of the Holy Land: “In the cave,” he says, “of the Leopards’ mountain, a certain cave of 26 feet is devoutly frequented by the Saracens, because [they] think Joshua [is] buried there.”
But [it is] narrated [that] into that same sepulchre were buried the stone knives, with which (above, ch. 5) we said the circumcision [was] made by him [Joshua] at Gilgal — [the text] here narrating this (v. 30) thus: ἐκεῖ ἔθηκαν μετ’ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ μνῆμα, εἰς ὃ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ, τὰς μαχαίρας τὰς πετρίνας, ἐν αἷς περιέτεμεν υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐν Γαλγάλοις, ὅτε ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, καθὰ συνέταξεν αὐτοῖς κύριος· καὶ ἐκεῖ εἰσιν ἕως τῆς σήμερον ἡμέρας [ekei ethēkan met’ autou eis to mnēma, eis ho ethapsan auton ekei, tas machairas tas petrinas, en hais perietemen huious Israēl en Galgalois, hote exēgagen autous ex Aigyptou, katha synetaxen autois kyrios; kai ekei eisin heōs tēs sēmeron hēmeras, “There they placed with him, in the tomb into which they buried him there, the stone knives with which he circumcised the sons of Israel in Gilgal, when he led them out of Egypt, as the Lord commanded them: and there they are unto this present day”]. But these little swords [gladioli] or knives [the text] had already before (ch. 21) written [as] preserved by Joshua himself in his [own] city, Thamnathsare. Where, therefore, are [those] who think [that] the things and relics of the Saints [are] guarded so iniquitously [unworthily]? But the mystical exposition of these stone knives is in Origen, [his] last homily. Certainly, indeed, since by them [he] understands nearly the word of God, [it] appears with how great love and honor the true Jesus follows [prosecutes] those [objects which are] even the true and holy instruments of doctrine — as [he follows] the sacred books, and much more those [men] who use these instruments piously and skillfully.