Tower of Siloam

In order to bring water into the city, Pilate caused an aqueduct to be built with money confiscated from the Sacred Treasury (the Corbanas, see Mark 7:11 to 13). To quell the disturbance which followed, Pilate sent soldiers in private clothes, armed with clubs, who, at a given signal, beat the Jews so severely that many died (Josephus, page 479). The tower in Siloam is thought to have been built in connection with the aqueduct, and its fall was regarded as a just punishment; but Christ would have us know that those who suffer are not necessarily sinners (John 9:2): often the wicked prosper (Jeremiah 12:1) in this life.

1897 Christadelphian p520