In 1872 I visited the village and examined the two principal monuments. That of Eleazar, west of the houses, is a rude structure of masonry in a court open to the air. It is eighteen feet long, plastered all over, and shaded by a splendid terebinth. In one corner is a little mosque with a Samaritan inscription bearing the date 1180 of the Moslem era. The Tomb of Phinehas is apparently an older building, and the walls of its court have an arcade of round arches now supporting a trellis covered with a grape-vine; the floor is paved. A Samaritan inscription exists here as well as at the little mosque adjacent. The tombs of Ithamar, and of Abishuah, the supposed author of the famous roll, are shown by the Samaritans close by.
The “Holy King Joshua” is said by the Samaritans to have been buried at Kefr Hâris, which they identify with Timnath Heres. This village is nine miles south of Nâblus.
The Jewish pilgrim Rabbi Jacob of Paris visited Caphar Cheres—presumably Kefr Hâris, in 1258 A.D., and mentions the tombs of Joshua, Nun, and Caleb. The Samaritans also hold that Caleb was buried with Joshua, and thus we have the curious result that Jews and Samaritans agree as to the site of these tombs, both placing them within the boundaries of Samaria. The Crusading writers point to the same site for Joshua’s Tomb, and the place is marked on the map of Marino Sanuto (1322 A.D.) in the relative position of Kefr Hâris.
The modern village has three sacred places: one of Neby Nûn, the second Neby Lush’a, the third Neby Kifl. In the two first we recognise Nun and Joshua; Neby Kifl was an historic character, but his shrine possibly occupies the place of the medieval Tomb of Caleb.
The site of Joshua’s Tomb seems therefore to be preserved by an indigenous tradition at least as authentic as that which fixes Joseph’s Tomb. It has been supposed that Jerome indicates a different site, but a careful reading of his account of St. Paula’s journey seems to show that he also refers to the tomb at Kefr Hâris.
