Luke 13:4. Those eighteen. An allusion to an occurrence then well known, but about which we have no further information.

The tower in Siloam. Probably a tower of the city wall near the pool of Siloam, or in that district, which may have been called by the name of the pool (see on John 9:7). The village named ‘Silwan' occupies the site of the ancient suburb where the valley of Tyropoeon opens into that of the Kidron.

Offenders, literally ‘debtors' (not the same word as in Luke 13:2) as in the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:12); there is no reason for supposing that they were actual debtors imprisoned in the tower. This accident (as it is supposed to have been) is classed by our Lord with the slaughter by Pilate. All such events are under God's control. He is just in permitting them, but we are unjust in drawing uncharitable inferences from them.

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Old Testament