Is the Tower of Siloam Scripture's final word on calamities, suffering, and judgment...

(Jesus said) "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:4,5)

Concerning the account of the disciples' response to the collapse of the Tower of Siloam and Jesus' rebuke of them, at World's sub-blog, Zeitgeist, Dr. Gene Edward Veith writes, "(Here) our Lord Jesus Christ clearly teaches how we are to regard natural and unnatural disasters...."

But if this is the classic location to use to interpret calamities and suffering, what do we make of all the other texts of Scripture where God tells us that people suffered and died because they were notorious (worse than others) sinners? For instance, what are we to make of Nadab and Abihu, Uzzah, and Ananias and Saphira? What of Nabal and Jezebel? And what of Herod who so angered God by his pride that Scripture tells us, "...immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:23)?

No, the words of Jesus following the collapse of the Tower of Siloam are no more of a universal rule for the interpretation of calamities and suffering than...

...than Jesus's answer to the question posed by His disciples concerning the man born blind: "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him" [John 9:30]).

Nor are the following statements of Scripture concerning the notorious wickedness of Sodom and Gomorah the universal rule for the interpretation of calamities and suffering:

Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD. (Gen 13:13)

And the LORD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know." (Gen 18:20,21)

...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7)

God issues His decrees, many of which result in human suffering. At times, He is pleased to reveal to us explicitly His purposes behind that suffering. Other times it is the duty of those who know Him and His Word to apply those explicit statements and the patterns they reveal to our present world and the calamities we suffer.

Scripture does teach that there are times when God judges men, cities, and nations because their particular sin has stunk to high heaven and His patience and longsuffering have given way to his holiness, justice, and wrath. If each time disaster strikes we point only to the Tower of Siloam as our interpretive key and claim that the victims are no worse than anyone else, and that no one can know the mind of God concerning any particular calamity, then we are refusing to learn the lessons of Scripture for our day and failing in our duty to apply those lessons specifically to known sin and sinners--of course, including ourselves.

After all, if every disaster calls every person to repent of every sin, we come mighty close to leaving the impression that no disaster calls anyone to repent of any particular sin.