Jesus adds a second example to make His point unmistakable. The first tragedy involved Galileans and a cruel ruler. This one involved people of Jerusalem and an accident. Gill notes the lesson: they might see "that not Galileans only, whom they had in great contempt, but even inhabitants of Jerusalem, died violent deaths." Jesus' question leaves the listeners with nowhere to hide their own need.

Jesus answers His own question exactly as before: "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5). Then He tells the parable of a fig tree that bore no fruit for three years and was given one more year (Luke 13:6-9). No reply from the crowd is recorded.

Siloam was a place at Jerusalem with a pool; Jesus later sent a blind man to "wash in the pool of Siloam" (John 9:7). Barnes says that for what purpose this tower was built "is not known; nor is it known at what time the event here referred to occurred." Gill thinks the eighteen were killed "very likely as they were purifying themselves in the pool."

In this verse the KJV word "sinners" translates a different Greek word than in Luke 13:2. Here it is opheiletai, literally "debtors," which is why the ESV reads "offenders."

Jesus uses two very different events, one a killing by a ruler and one a collapse, to teach one truth. Barnes puts it simply: "It is improper to suppose that those on whom heavy judgments fall in this world are the worst of people." God's ways in the world are not a simple scoreboard that tells us who is better or worse.

Jesus' warning, "ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:5), takes in every listener. Matthew Henry, writing on these verses, says, "we all deserve to perish as much as they did." That is why the very next story is about mercy and time. The vineyard owner waits, and the dresser asks for one more year (Luke 13:6-9). God's patience is the space in which repentance is possible.