Mark 4:5 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth’ – just a thin film – ‘and immediately it sprang up’, because having no depth of earth, what moisture there was, was kept near the surface. The seedling sprang up but there was no root. It put all its energies into what was visible above the earth, and the normally equally great growth of the root below the earth did not exist. An ignorant observer would have concluded that it was doing very well, but he would have left out of the reckoning an essential part of the healthy growth of a plant. Consequently, when the sun came up the soil rapidly dried out, and the plant was scorched, and withered and died. This thin film of soil was highly dependent on the prevailing weather conditions. When it rained the soil was moist; when the sun came out, the moisture quickly evaporated.