The following article is part of the "Biblical Obscurities" blog series by Mike Velthouse, author of Journey Through the Psalms. For years, Mike has been writing articles for his church's monthly newsletter on a number of "obscurities" within the Bible. We will be reprinting many of those articles here on the RFPA blog. Join our email list here to receive a notification in your inbox for new additions to this blog series! PCs: Wikimedia Commons, Adobe Stock.

"Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?" (Luke 13:4)

Sometimes the Bible introduces us to a historical event in one verse, only for all memory of that event to vanish forever by the next verse. The event in Siloam that Jesus mentions in the fourth verse of Luke 13 did happen, but any remembrance of it disappears from Scripture by verse five. We are left to contemplate the meaning without further context or explanation. This reminds us that events mentioned in the Bible are part of the daily drama of real human lives, just as our lives unfold daily.

Consider the eighteen men who lost their lives in this event. These eighteen men had an occupation that involved constructing a tower in Siloam. These eighteen men had families. These eighteen men had a place to live and friends with which to spend time. They went to bed the night before, knowing they would go to work the next day. Imagine them waking up that morning and having breakfast before heading to the job site. But they never made it back home at the end of the day. They now had grieving family and friends dealing with a sudden calamity. Things that happen in the Bible affect real human beings.

To understand what these men were building and why, let us first consider the historical importance of Siloam, the southeast corner of Jerusalem. 

Because of Jerusalem’s geographic location, the city contained no natural water source. On the outside of the city's east wall, there existed a critical site called the Gihon Spring: the water source for all of Jerusalem. This is where the people came to draw the water they needed for the day. This is where the priests would cleanse themselves before performing any temple ritual.

But having the water source located outside the city meant that any enemy who thought of attacking Jerusalem would first target this area.

King Hezekiah knew this. To protect Judah’s water source against a potential attack by Sennacherib of Assyria, Hezekiah accomplished a marvelous engineering feat for that day. (*1) Under his leadership, the people created a 1,750-ft underground water tunnel from the Gihon Spring, twisting and turning through solid rock, down to the Siloam area of Jerusalem inside the city walls (2 Chronicles 32:3, 4 and 30). The end of this tunnel became the Siloam reservoir. In 2 Kings 20:20, the verse that sums up Hezekiah’s reign in memoriam, Scripture notes this accomplishment: “And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city...”

Babylon destroyed this tunnel when they laid waste to the city of Jerusalem. But God provided a remedy. In 444 B.C., when Nehemiah led the reconstruction of Jerusalem, he and the Jews who returned restored the water flow in Hezekiah's tunnel and allowed the water to reach Siloam again (Nehemiah 3:15).

Herod the Great further improved this tunnel during his reign. Although wicked and oppressive, Herod completed many infrastructure improvements to Jerusalem, including enhancing the Siloam area. (*2) He enlarged the pool, added levels, created arches, and divided the bathing area so women and men could use the pool separately.

The people could once again come here for their daily water supply. The priests could come here and purify themselves before performing the temple rituals. During the Feast of Booths, the people came here to collect the water used for those ceremonies. Also, the poor and sick came here for cleansing. 

Workers discovered the Pool of Siloam in 2005 during a sewage system repair project. (*3) They found a pool underground, 225 feet long, with stairs around it. You can visit this site in Jerusalem today.

Now that we know a little more about the Siloam area of Jerusalem, you might ask, "So, what was this tower from Luke 13?"

We have to speculate because Jewish history provides no specifics beyond this biblical reference. Even the great Jewish historian Josephus does not mention this in his chronicles. But we know this event happened because Jesus used this event in his teaching, and we can conclude that the people to whom he spoke had the occurrence fresh in their minds when he spoke about it in Luke 13.

There are generally two opinions on the purpose of this tower in Siloam.

First, it might have become part of an aqueduct project constructed under Pontius Pilate. (*4) This task would have been undertaken around A.D. 30, in the fourth year of Pilate’s reign. The Roman aqueduct system is still remembered as one of the engineering marvels of that era. Their aqueducts were above-the-ground canals supported by arches or towers. These canals relied on gravity to transport water from outside sources into cities and towns. So, the tower of Siloam being a reference to an aqueduct tower is a distinct possibility, considering the importance of bringing water into the city.

The other opinion is that the tower of Siloam may have been (or have been meant to become) a watch tower built for the city's defense. (*5)

In Jesus' day, there were about 34 towers placed all along the four sides of Jerusalem’s walls. These towers averaged about 40 feet tall. The Phasael Tower, built by Herod near his palace in northwest Jerusalem, was the tallest, at 144 feet.

Due to the importance of Siloam as the epicenter of Jerusalem’s water supply, this area would have been most important to defend. So, the tower of Siloam may be a reference to the fall of a watch tower. Scholars who argue this believe that after Siloam's watch tower fell, the Jews constructed another one in its place, only for it to be destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 (Matthew 24:2). In 1920, workers found the remains of a tower foundation during an excavation in the Siloam area. It measured 22 feet across, which would be a reasonable diameter for a watch tower. (*6) 

Now, let's bring this event into the context of Jesus' teaching in Luke 13. Jesus had just finished his last Galilean tour and made his way south, down the east side of the Jordan River in Perea. The next few days would see Jesus heading west, crossing the Jordan River, and heading to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead.

While teaching the people in Perea, Jesus used the discourse in Luke 13 to clear up their confusion about the relationship between suffering or death and one's salvation. Do people die in "tragedies" because they deserve it more than others? For example, if the eighteen men who died when the tower in Siloam collapsed were good Jews who went to the temple to worship and performed all the rituals required by the law, how could God have allowed this tragedy to happen? Or were they worse sinners than others? Jesus had this answer for his listeners: “except ye repent, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). 

The puritan Matthew Henry states, "the judgments of God upon others are loud calls to us to repent." We know that all things take place in God’s providence for the good of his people and for the glory of his name. Whether you die naturally, from disease, or by a tower falling on you, "if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24).

Let’s go back to Siloam to explore one more episode. In John 9, Jesus (the "Sent One") sent the man born blind to "wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation [which is translated], Sent)" (v. 7) and receive his sight. Before this happened, the disciples asked Jesus, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (v. 2).

The answer Jesus gave can be applied not only to the fall of the tower in Siloam, where eighteen men died, but also to any devastating event that has happened in our lifetimes, such as 9/11 or the Covid pandemic: “…that the works of God should be made manifest” (John 9:3).

1 - https://www.bibleplaces.com/heztunnel/

2 - https://www.gotquestions.org/Pool-of-Siloam.html

3 - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-09-sci-siloam9-story.html

4 - https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/pontius-pilate-and-the-jerusalem-aqueduct/

5 - https://www.gotquestions.org/walls-of-Jerusalem.html

6 - https://www.askelm.com/temple/t031205.htm

Like what you've read? Click the image below to read more from author Mike Velthouse in the thirty-day devotional Journey Through the Psalms, available now on rfpa.org and in Christian bookstores near you!