SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:12
¶ Y aconteci en aquellos días, que fue al monte a orar, y pas la noche orando a Dios.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Luke 6:12
Verse 12. In prayer to God.] Or, in the prayer of God: or, in the oratory of God, en th proseuch tou qeou. So this passage is translated by many critics; for which Dr. Whitby gives the following reasons: As the mountain of God, Exod. iii. 1; iv. 27; the bread of God, Lev. xxi. 17; the lamp of God, 1 Sam. iii. 3; the vessels of God, 1 Chron. xxii. 19; the altar of God, Psa. xliii. 4; the sacrifices of God, Psa. li. 17; the gifts of God, chap. xxi. 4; the ministers of God, 2 Cor. vi. 4; the tabernacle of God, 2 Chron. i. 3; the temple of God, Matt. xxi. 12; the synagogues of God, Psa. lxxiv. 8; are all things consecrated or appropriated to God's service; so proseuch tou qeou must, in all reason, be a house of prayer to God; whence it is called topov proseuchv, a place of prayer, 1 Mac. iii. 46; and so the word is certainly used Acts xvi. 13; and by Philo, in his oration against Flaccus, where he complains that ai proseucai, 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 eiv thv proseuchn, 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 Acts xvi. 13. 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, &c., mean very high mountains, a very strong wind, great and terrible hail, very tall trees, &c., so proseuch tou qeou, here, may be very properly translated the prayer of God; i.e. very fervent and earnest prayer; and though dianuktereuwn 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. en toiv oploiv dienuktereuve meq apantwn-He passed the night under arms with them all. Idem, Bell. Civ. lib. v. dienuktereuon-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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. And it came to pass in those days , etc.] When Christ was teaching by the lake of Gennesaret, or in one or other of the cities of Galilee near that place: that he went out ; of the synagogue and city where he had been: into a mountain to pray ; for the sake of solitude, and which lay near the sea of Tiberias; (See Gill on Matthew 14:23). and continued all night in prayer to God ; or with God, as the Ethiopic version renders it; or in the prayer of God as the phrase may be literally rendered; not in a prayer of God's making; though the Jews sometimes speak of the prayer of God, and give us a form of it: but either this respects the object of his prayer; it was made to God, as our translation suggests; or the nature, matter, and manner of it: it was a divine prayer, it regarded divine things, and was put up in a very fervent manner, and with great vehemence; so the coals of love or jealousy are said to be coals of fire, which hath hy tbhl , the flame of Jehovah; that is as we render it, a most vehement flame, ( Song of Solomon 8:6) In like manner, prayer of God is a most vehement prayer; strong cries sent up to God with great eagerness and importunity, fervency, and devotion; and such was Christ's prayer, and in which he continued all night: unless by the prayer of God should be meant, as is thought by many, an house of prayer to God, in which Christ lodged all night, and spent it in prayer to God in it. Certain it is, the Jews had their proseuchre, or prayer houses. Philo the Jew f253 often speaks of them, and so does Josephus f254 ; and there seems to be mention made of them in the Talmudic writings: when R. Jochanan ben Zaccai came to Vespasian, in his camp before Jerusalem, Vespasian asked him, what he should give him? he replied f255 , I desire nothing of thee but this Jabneh, (a famous university,) that I may teach in it the disciples, and fix in it hlpt , an oratory, or prayer house, and do in it, all the commandments said in the law.
And in another place f256 , R. Judah says, that Samuel said it is free for a man to make water within four cubits, hlypt l , which I should choose to render, of the proseucha, or prayer house: though the Gemarists afterwards, and so the gloss seem to explain it of the time after prayer, in which a man should wait before he evacuates, even as long as he might go the length of four cubits. Juvenal has reference to one of these oratories, when he says, in qua te qucero proseucha? and in one of these, it is very likely, Christ was in prayer all night long; for by the sea side, and by the side of rivers, these oratories were used to be; ( Acts 16:13,16).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-19 - We often think one half hour a great deal to spend in meditation an secret prayer, but Christ was whole nights engaged in these duties. I serving God, our great care should be not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning of another. The twelve apostles ar here named; never were men so privileged, yet one of them had a devil and proved a traitor. Those who have not faithful preaching near them had better travel far than be without it. It is indeed worth while to go a great way to hear the word of Christ, and to go out of the way of other business for it. They came to be cured by him, and he heale them. There is a fulness of grace in Christ, and healing virtue in him ready to go out from him, that is enough for all, enough for each. Me regard the diseases of the body as greater evils than those of their souls; but the Scripture teaches us differently.
Greek Textus Receptus
εγενετο 1096 5633 V-2ADI-3S δε 1161 CONJ εν 1722 PREP ταις 3588 T-DPF ημεραις 2250 N-DPF ταυταις 3778 D-DPF εξηλθεν 1831 5627 V-2AAI-3S εις 1519 PREP το 3588 T-ASN ορος 3735 N-ASN προσευξασθαι 4336 5664 V-ADN και 2532 CONJ ην 2258 5713 V-IXI-3S διανυκτερευων 1273 5723 V-PAP-NSM εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF προσευχη 4335 N-DSF του 3588 T-GSM θεου 2316 N-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
12. A mountain (to orov). The article denotes a familiar place. Rev., rightly, the mountain.Continued all night (hn dianuktereuwn). Only here in New Testament. Used in medical language. The all night prayer is peculiar to Luke's narrative.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
6:12 {He went out into the mountains to pray} (exelqein auton eis to oros proseuxasqai). Note ex- where #Mr 3:13 has {goeth up} (anabainei). Luke alone has "to pray" as he so often notes the habit of prayer in Jesus. {He continued all night} (en dianuktereuwn). Periphrastic imperfect active. Here alone in the N.T., but common in the LXX and in late Greek writers. Medical writers used it of whole night vigils. {In prayer to God} (en tei proseucei tou qeou). Objective genitive tou qeou. this phrase occurs nowhere else. proseuce does not mean "place of prayer" or synagogue as in #Ac 16:13, but the actual prayer of Jesus to the Father all night long. He needed the Father's guidance now in the choice of the Apostles in the morning.
