Why did Jesus mention the tower of Siloam in Luke 13:4?

"There were present352 some at that season who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of their sacrifices." The cruel and hard-hearted governor had dealt with excessive brutality and had shown his contempt of the Galileans. This furnished a subject for conversation: it was a judgment. They could more easily speak of it as it was a question of Galileans, whom the men of Jerusalem were apt to despise. But the Lord answers them, showing that the time for the kind of discriminative dealing which was in their minds has not really arrived. It will do in the millennium, but it had not and could not come while the Messiah was in humiliation, a Sufferer, sent to die by the same governor who so unworthily used those Galileans — yea, by those highest in Jerusalem whose sin was yet greater; sent, not to have His blood mingled with sacrifices, but to be Himself the Sacrifice for sinners, in the infinite grace of God to all, beginning with Jerusalem. "And he answering said to them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners beyond all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? No, I say to you, but, if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner." The Lord makes it an appeal to their own conscience, and shows that the light of Himself on earth reveals the deplorable state of all men without exception, and, if there be a difference, the exceeding guilt of the Jew in particular. They should all perish except they repented.352a He": so Edd. after ℵBLT, Amiat. ADE, etc., 1, 33, 69, Syrr. have "Jesus."

He does not here speak of believing, though no doubt it is implied and goes along with faith; but repenting brings in the thought of their sin and their want of all right moral judgment of it. On this He insists, but He does more: He brings forward a case calculated to arrest and search their consciences. They had spoken of Galileans; He reminds them of some nearer home in like case — men of Jerusalem, eighteen of whom had some time ago perished from a tower in Siloam that fell upon them. The Lord accordingly asks them, "Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that they were debtors beyond all the men† who dwell in Jerusalem? No, I say to you: but, if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner." It is not so grave before God, nor so near to man's danger or best interests that a special disaster had occurred to Galileans, or to men of Jerusalem. What Jesus shows is the inevitable ruin of all who do not repent. This is characteristic of Christianity. It is the most separative of all things. It severs even out of Israel to God by the judgment of sin as it is and the knowledge of His grace; but at the same time it is the most comprehensive testimony possible. Not only does it go out to all nations to gather from them and put believers on equal privileges whether Jew or Gentile; but it is no less profound than universal, inasmuch as it shows both what God is towards every child of man, and what He is to none but His own children. Indeed, it is a revelation of God in Christ, both for the Church and in His connection with the whole universe. He is the God and Father of all, "Who is above all and through all and in you all" (Eph. 4:6); though this will in no way hinder the destruction of all men who do not repent. Christ, come in humiliation to redeem from sin to God, alone reveals things as they are. "They" (αὐτοί): so Edd. after ℵAB, etc., 33, 69, Syrsin Amiat. EΓΔ, etc., 1, Memph., have "these" (οὗτοι). †"The men": so Edd. after ℵABDL, etc., 69. E, etc., 33, omit.

(1) First, very precisely, Paul's doctrine of "no difference," with which he opens the way for the gospel in his epistle to the Romans. They tell the Lord about the Galileans whom Pilate had slain at the very altar, as they were drawing near to God. He probes the thought of their heart by the question: was this, then, a proof that they were greater sinners than others in the sight of God? and answers it Himself, that they were not, but that, except they repented, all would perish alike: there was not a possible one who could merit escape.

He adds another example, where the character of what took place might make it seem more like the special judgment of God Himself, — eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them: were these, at any rate, "debtors" to the justice of God beyond all else of the dwellers in Jerusalem? and again He will not leave it to others to answer, but answers it Himself in the same way as before. The number 18, which is 3x6, speaks of evil manifested in its highest uprise; and note that the Lord says not a word with regard to them to lessen the thought of evil in them: that is not the point. On the contrary, make of it as much as possible, the lesson is only deeper. For the question is, not, were they sinners beyond others? but does the hand of God upon them prove them to be that? had they not been such, could they have pleaded exemption from divine judgment on that account? And to this He answers, No: judgment from God, and even to perdition; will come upon all, except they repent. It is the owning the ruin in which we are alike, which casts us, as sinners, upon unfailing mercy and brings out from under judgment: this, and this alone.

Men are apt to dwell on shocking events, and to measure the guilt of the victims accordingly. So it was when the Lord warned of the crisis for the Jewish people which His presence could not but bring about. For He was there in the testimony of the truth and in the humiliation of grace, not yet in the power and glory of the Kingdom; He was there for faith to receive, but for unbelief to refuse or despise. If rejection unto death was before Him, they were on the way to the sure dealings of God in judgment. Then it was that some reported to Him the tragic end of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices. But our Lord in answer corrects their own thought of exceptional guilt in that case, and solemnly warns them that, except they repented, they should all perish in the same way. Nay more, He points to the eighteen men, not slain by an unfeeling and truculent Roman, on whom the tower of Siloam fell. Yet were they debtors beyond all the men in Jerusalem? On the contrary He repeats, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." This is God's voice to sinful man in the present disorder of the world. Man is no competent judge of the tangled scene; but he is loudly called through such events to judge himself before God, in short to repent. And the Lord gives the call divine force: "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

A Common Mistake. — In connection with this line of instruction we next learn of two events which had taken place in Jerusalem, neither of which has found a place, it seems, in profane history. Pilate, the Roman governor, had killed some Galileans, engaged in the act, apparently, of sacrificing. God, whom they were outwardly worshipping in the appointed way, had not protected them. God's altar was no refuge for them (Ex. 21:14). Their blood had been mingled with their sacrifices. Then, too, the tower in Siloam had fallen upon eighteen men, and had crushed them to death. Were these special marks of Divine displeasure? Some, perhaps, thought so. But they were wrong. Those Galileans, and those inhabitants of Jerusalem, who met with an untimely death, were not worse than others. Sinners they were, but not worse than others in the metropolis of Judaism. Men might draw their conclusions, and often, as in these cases, erroneous ones. The Lord would impress on all the true lesson, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:1-5). Those events had a voice for the living, and concerned not only the dead.

The Jews told the Lord of the Galileans who had evidently been murdered by Pilate in the very act of their sacrificing. This must have taken place at Jerusalem, the center of sacrificial worship. The Jews were apparently thinking, not so much of the cruelty of Pilate, but of some supposed special sin of the Galileans that deserved such punishment. How adept we are in turning attention to the wrongs of others to avoid criticism of ourselves! The Lord answered with a deeply penetrating word. Did they suppose those who suffered in this way were by this proven to be worse sinners than others? He emphatically answered that this was not the case; and added, "but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (v.3).

To reinforce this He referred to another tragedy, evidently fresh in the minds of the people, in which eighteen victims had been killed in the collapse of a tower. These were dwellers in Jerusalem, so tragedies were not confined to the Galileans. But He pressed home the same lesson. Such things are a warning to the living to repent while they have time, for there is no difference between people as to the fact of their guilt: all need the same grace: all must repent or perish.

God no doubt allowed those to be slain upon whom the tower of Siloam fell (Luke 13:4), and it was a warning for others to be ready when death came, a readiness that comes with repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Many innocent women and children have perished in the wars of mankind, and many questions regarding this may rise in the mind, but the Christian knows that all God’s ways are perfect, and that the judge of all the earth is righteous in all His acts and ways.

JUST AT THAT moment some of those present mentioned the case of certain unhappy men of Galilee, who had paid the extreme penalty under Pilate. They had the impression that they were sinners of the deepest dye. The Lord charged home upon His hearers that their own guilt was just as great, and that they too would perish, and He cited the further case of the eighteen slain by the fall of the tower at Siloam. In the popular view these were exceptional happenings indicating exceptional wickedness. The people listening to Him were committed to worse wickedness by failing to understand their opportunity; and, rejecting Him, they would not escape. Thus He warned them of the retribution coming upon them.

We will refer first to the parable of the fig tree, planted in the vineyard — used by the Lord Jesus in Luke 13. The hour of Israel’s judgment was fast approaching; yet their eyes were such as “see not.” They had made their Lord their “adversary” (Matt. 5:55; Luke 12:58) in rejecting Him, and He counsels them, if even so, to agree with their adversary “quickly, as thou art in the way,” lest when the end came the adversary would deliver them to the judge, and the judge to the officer, — the officer to the prison; from which there was no escape till the last mite was paid. Talking of judgment thus, some mentioned a partial one which had fallen on those Galileans who had been slain by Pilate. They spake of it as of the ordinary news of the day, and with the not uncommon thought, that a special visitation of such a kind from God’s hand, only marked those upon whom it fell, as deserving it beyond their fellows. They deemed that such was the sign of God’s outwardly and manifestly governing the world, so that they could approve or understand. The Lord at once applies this to the conscience of all around; as also the case of the eighteen persons on whom the tower of Siloam fell; saying that judgment would now be universal, and not partial, and that unless they repented, they would all likewise perish, not merely those of their brethren whom they were bringing up for His judgment.

In going back to our chapter (Luke 13), we see the Jews had the thought of God's government in their minds. Nor was it wrong in itself. They thought that God could not let such a guilty wretch as this Pilate live, who had been mingling the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. But Christ brings them to a new principle by which to judge of things, and tells them that Pilate is but a mere instrument in the governmental dealings of God with the nation. Judgment was going on in this present evil world. "Suppose ye," says the Lord, "that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans? I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." It is not that they were finally condemned as sinners here, but it was governmental judgment in this world which would overtake them all unless they repented. God had sent forth His judgment and caught these Galileans, and would catch the Jews also unless they repented. For not only Pilate but God's Son was there, and they were practically rejecting Him. And how many of the Jews had their blood mingled with their sacrifices by Titus in the destruction of Jerusalem!

That is exactly what people say nowadays when they see anything particular. The eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell must be the worst people in Jerusalem! 'Not at all,' said the Lord. God has his own wonderful ways of which we know nothing; but "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish" — by a worse perishing than the fall of a tower upon you. We find how a man was kept — not faultless, far from it — but entirely free from all the hidden evil that was imputed to him because of his terrible suffering, which entirely alienated, therefore, the sympathy of his friends; and instead of getting one grain of sympathy he got a good many tons of scorn, and their suspicion that things were very wrong in him.