Trivia Question: Who is the only woman whose age at death is mentioned in the Bible? That's right - Sarah, at 127 years old.
Genesis 23 reveals some of the customs of burial and land-buying in Abraham's day. As a nomadic foreigner in the land, Abraham has no place to bury his dead. When Sarah passes on, he negotiates the purchase of a cave belonging to Ephron the Hittite. At first, there is a ritual of Ephron arguing that "you're a good man, just take the land" versus Abraham insisting that he needs to buy it. (This reminds me of a modern-day parallel of two people arguing over who will get to pay for the check at a restaurant!) The two men finally agree that, for four hundred shekels of silver, this land's ownership will pass to Abraham so that he can bury his wife.
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