Luke 6:12

ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις : a vague expression, but suggestive of some connection with foregoing encounters. ἐξελθεῖν, went out; whence not indicated, probably from a town (Capernaum?) into the solitude of the mountains. εἰς τὸ ὄρος : as in Matthew 5:1. and Mark 3:13, to the hill near the place where He had been. προσεύξασθαι, to pray, not in Mk.; might be taken for granted. But Lk. makes a point of exhibiting Jesus as a devotional Model, often praying, and especially at critical times in His life. The present is viewed as a very special crisis, hence what follows. ἦν διανυκτερεύων, etc., He was spending the whole night in prayer to God; διανυκτερεύων occurs here only in N. T. τοῦ θεοῦ is genitive objective: prayer of which God is the object; but if προσευχὴ were taken as = a place for prayer in the open air, as in Acts 16:13, we should get the poetic idea of the proseucha of God the mountains!