Genesis 23

[dreamer_easy]

Skidoo!

What's all this about? Ephron and Abraham sound like to old guys going "After you." "No, after you." Is it significant - making a point about either character or correct behaviour?

Comments

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

It's a very Middle-Eastern way of bargaining. I personally find Ephron's way of wrapping up the deal quite funny. "Take the land, take the land... well, since you insist, the land is worth X number of shekels, but what is that between you and me?" and Abraham, who knows better than to take all these protestations of humility and generosity at face value, duly coughs up the shekels.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

It's also a morality point about how asking for what you need, for a good honest reason, will often get you a better deal than simply treating personal matters as pure business deals.