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Selected Verse: Luke 6:12 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Lu 6:12 |
King James |
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
THE TWELVE APOSTLES CHOSEN--GATHERING MULTITUDES--GLORIOUS HEALING. (Luke 6:12-49)
went out--probably from Capernaum.
all night in prayer . . . and when . . . day, he called, &c.--The work with which the next day began shows what had been the burden of this night's devotions. As He directed His disciples to pray for "laborers" just before sending themselves forth (see on Mat 9:37; Mat 10:1), so here we find the Lord Himself in prolonged communion with His Father in preparation for the solemn appointment of those men who were to give birth to His Church, and from whom the world in all time was to take a new mould. How instructive is this! |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And it came to pass in those days - The designation of the time here is very general. It means "about" the time when the events occurred which had been just narrated.
He went out into a mountain - Jesus was accustomed to resort to such places to hold communion with God, Mar 6:46. He did it because it was retired, free from interruption, and fitted by impressiveness and grandeur to raise the thoughts to the God that had formed the high hills and the deep-shaded groves.
And continued all night in prayer to God - There has been a difference of opinion about this passage, whether it means that he spent the night in the act of "praying" to God, or in a "place" of prayer. The Jews had places of prayer, called "oratories," built out of their cities or towns, where they could retire from the bustle of a city and hold communion with God. They were built on the banks of rivers (compare Act 16:13), in groves, or on hills. They were rude inclosures, made by building a rough wall of stone around a level piece of ground, and capable of accommodating a small number who might resort thither to pray. But the more probable opinion is that he spent the whole night in supplication; for:
1. This is the obvious meaning of the passage.
2. The object for which he went out was "to pray."
3. It was an occasion of great importance. He was about to send out his apostles - to lay the foundation of his religion - and he therefore set apart this time especially to seek the divine blessing.
4. It was no unusual thing for Jesus to spend much time in prayer, and we are not to wonder that he passed an entire night in supplication. If it be asked why Jesus should pray "at all" if he was divine, it may be replied that he was also a "man" - a man subject to the same sufferings as others, and, "as a man," needing the divine blessing. There was no more inconsistency in his "praying" than there was in his "eating." Both were "means" employed for an end, and both were equally consistent with his being divine. But Jesus was also "Mediator," and as such it was proper to seek the divine direction and blessing. In "this" case he has set us an example that we should follow. In great emergencies, when we have important duties, or are about to encounter special difficulties, we should seek the divine blessing and direction by "prayer." We should set apart an unusual portion of time for supplication. Nay, if we pass the "whole night" in prayer, it should not be charged as enthusiasm. Our Saviour did it. Men of the world often pass whole nights in plans of gain or in dissipation, and shall it be esteemed strange that Christians should spend an equal portion of time in the far more important business of religion? |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
A mountain (τὸ ὄρος)
The article denotes a familiar place. Rev., rightly, the mountain.
Continued all night (ἦν διανυκτερεύων)
Only here in New Testament. Used in medical language. The all-night prayer is peculiar to Luke's narrative. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
In the prayer of God - The phrase is singular and emphatical, to imply an extraordinary and sublime devotion. Mar 3:13. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
In prayer to God - Or, in the prayer of God: or, in the oratory of God, εν τῃ προσευχῃ του Θεου. So this passage is translated by many critics; for which Dr. Whitby gives the following reasons: As the mountain of God, Exo 3:1; Exo 4:27; the bread of God, Lev 21:17; the lamp of God, Sa1 3:3; the vessels of God, Ch1 22:19; the altar of God, Psa 43:4; the sacrifices of God, Psa 51:17; the gifts of God, Luk 21:4; the ministers of God, Co2 6:4; the tabernacle of God, Ch2 1:3; the temple of God, Mat 21:12; the synagogues of God, Psa 74:8; are all things consecrated or appropriated to God's service; so προσευχη του Θεου must, in all reason, be a house of prayer to God; whence it is called τοπος προσευχης, a place of prayer, 1 Maccabees 3:46; and so the word is certainly used Act 16:13; and by Philo, in his oration against Flaccus, where he complains that αἱ προσευχαι, their houses for prayer were pulled down, and there was no place left in which they might worship God, or pray for Caesar; and by Josephus, who says the multitude was gathered εις την προσευχην, into the house of prayer: and so Juvenal, Sat. iii. v. 296, speaks to the mendicant Jew: -
Ede ubi consistas; in qua te quaero proseucha?
In what house of prayer may I find thee begging?
See on Act 16:13 (note). But on this it may be observed, that as the mountains of God, the wind of God, the hail of God, the trees of God, etc., mean very high mountains, a very strong wind, great and terrible hail, very tall trees, etc., so προσευχη του Θεου, here, may be very properly translated the prayer of God; i.e. very fervent and earnest prayer; and though διανυκτερευων may signify, to lodge in a place for a night, yet there are various places in the best Greek writers in which it is used, not to signify a place, but to pass the night in a particular state. So Appian, Bell. Pun. Εν τοις ὁπλοις διενυκτερευϚε μεθ' ἁπαντων - He passed the night under arms with them all. Idem, Bell. Civ. lib. v. διενυκτερευον - They passed the night without food, without any regard to the body, and in the want of all things. See more examples in Kypke, who concludes by translating the passage thus: He passed the night without sleep in prayers to God. Some of the Jews imagine that God himself prays; and this is one of his petitions: Let it be my good pleasure, that my mercy overcome my wrath. See more in Lightfoot. |
1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
3 So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.
3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
17 Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.