And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Hill, at Galgal. Josue took care to have this ceremony performed. (Calmet)
Perhaps he circumcised some himself, as Abraham did those of his own house, Genesis xvii. 23. (Menochius)
Now, this was a figure of baptism, for, just as circumcision cuts off from the body a part which is not useful but a useless superfluity, so by holy baptism are we circumcised of sin. It is obvious that sin is a superfluity of concupiscence and of no use. For it is impossible for anyone not to have any concupiscence at all or to be entirely without any taste for pleasure, but the useless part of pleasure, this is the sin which holy baptism circumcises. - "Orthodox Faith 4.25"
Joshua is reputed to have circumcised the people a second time by means of stone knives (which was a sign of that circumcision by which Jesus Christ himself has cut us off from idols made of stone and other materials) and to have gathered together those who everywhere from the uncircumcision (that is, from worldly error) were circumcised with stone knives, namely, the words of our Lord Jesus. For I have already pointed out that the prophets used to call him figuratively a stone and rock. By the stone knives, therefore, we understand his words, by which so many who were in error have been circumcised from their uncircumcision with the circumcision of the heart. From that time God commanded through Jesus that they who had the circumcision which began with Abraham should be circumcised again with the circumcision of the heart, for he said that Joshua performed a second circumcision with stone knives upon those who entered into the Holy Land. - "Dialogue with Trypho 113"
Also Moses himself: “In the last days the Lord God will circumcise your heart that you may love the Lord your God.” And in like manner in Jesus [Joshua], the son of Nun, the successor of Moses, we note: “And the Lord said to Jesus [Joshua]: Make for yourself knives of stone exceedingly sharp and sit and circumcise a second time the children of Israel.” He said that this second circumcision would not be of the flesh as was the first, which the Jews still practice, but of the heart and spirit, which Christ, who was the true Jesus, gave. - "Epitome of the Divine Institutes 4.17"
In the course of the appointing of a successor to Moses, Hoshea the son of Nun is certainly transferred from his pristine name and begins to be called Jesus [Joshua]. Certainly, you say. This we first assert to have been a figure of the future. For, because Jesus Christ was to introduce the second people (which is composed of us nations, lingering deserted in the world previously) into the land of promise, “flowing with milk and honey” (that is, into the possession of eternal life, than which nothing is sweeter). This had to come about not through Moses (that is, not through the law’s discipline) but through Joshua (that is, through the new law’s grace), after our circumcision with “a knife of rock” (that is, with Christ’s precepts, for Christ is in many ways and figures predicted as a rock). Therefore the man who was being prepared to act as images of this sacrament was inaugurated under the figure of the Lord’s name, even so as to be named Jesus [Joshua]. - "An Answer to the Jews 9"
