Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 6:13

"And when it was day, he called his disciples; and he chose from them twelve, whom also he named apostles:" — Luke 6:13 (ASV)

And when it was day.—In the place which he assigns to the choice of the Twelve, St. Luke agrees more closely with St. Mark than with St. Matthew, who makes it precede the narratives of the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and the healing of the withered hand, which it follows here.

A precisely harmonized arrangement seems impossible here, and is, fortunately, unimportant. We must be content to admit the possibility, whether accidental or intentional, that one or other of the Gospels, possibly all three, arrange facts in an order other than chronological sequence.

The point to which St. Luke’s record was obviously intended to give prominence is that the choice of the Twelve came as the result of the night of prayer, just as the prominent thought in St. Matthew (Matthew 9:36) is that it grew out of our Lord’s compassion for the multitude who were as sheep without a shepherd.