And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
This verse is part of the genealogical records that occupy the first eight chapters of 1 Chronicles. Those records are the kind that are seldom taken up in family worship or private devotion. They are difficult to understand, and their value is not readily seen.
Their presence in Scripture is no proof against the full inspiration of the Bible or against its being made by God for people. Not every portion of inspired Scripture is equally interesting and valuable to every person and in every circumstance. God formed the Bible for all classes of people and not for one class alone, placing deep things within it to engage scholars. He caused the origin and distribution of races to be recorded there because students of ethnology would arise. He also scattered pearls of spiritual truth all along the way in such passages, so that many who come seeking only human knowledge find that which is divine.
This verse is part of the genealogical records that occupy the first eight chapters of 1 Chronicles. Those records are the kind that are seldom taken up in family worship or private devotion. They are difficult to understand, and their value is not readily seen.
Their presence in Scripture is no proof against the full inspiration of the Bible or against its being made by God for people. Not every portion of inspired Scripture is equally interesting and valuable to every person and in every circumstance. God formed the Bible for all classes of people and not for one class alone, placing deep things within it to engage scholars. He caused the origin and distribution of races to be recorded there because students of ethnology would arise. He also scattered pearls of spiritual truth all along the way in such passages, so that many who come seeking only human knowledge find that which is divine.