Mark 4:10 - Exposition

When he was alone . These words do not appear in St. Matthew's account. He simply says that " the disciples came and said unto him." This must have been upon some other occasion. It could not have been when be was preaching from the boat; for St. Mark says, they that were about him with the twelve . He is the only evangelist who notices this. We must not forget that, besides the twelve, there were seventy other disciples. They asked of him the parables ( τὰς παραβολάς ), according to the best reading. The inquiry was a general one, although St. Mark here gives the explanation of one only.