A tower was something used in ancient times for defensive purposes (Judges 9:51). It was a place where the people could flee in the event of an attack from an enemy. It was also used for early warning purposes, in order to detect an enemy’s (human or animal) approach. In the context of Jesus’ parable of counting the cost (Luke 14:28-33), the tower (Luke 14:28) represents the One or ones in whom the people placed their trust. Who would be a better defense for their nation—the Jewish authorities or Jesus? In Jeremiah 6:27, the prophet was set over the people as a tower and a fortress, not to help the people but to observe their wrongdoing and judge them. Herein, we are able to see that the foundation for the idea that the servant of God is a tower is laid in the Old Testament.
Therefore, Luke 14:28-29 points to the idea that the people of God were placing their trust in the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem, but these men weren’t enough to keep the nation safe. Rather, it was due the corruption of the men, who led the Jewish nation, that paved the way for the Jews’ war with Rome and the destruction of the nation that followed in 70 AD. The Jews were set at naught, and ridiculed for thinking they could overcome such a large and terrible military force such as Rome’s (Luke 14:29-30).
On the other hand, the tower could also point to Jesus who was, indeed, enough to protect the nation, had they placed their trust in him. Micah 4:8-13 points to the Messiah, showing he is a stronghold able to protect his people (cf. Micah 4:8, 13). So, had the nation placed their trust in Jesus, his judgment upon them in 70 AD would have turned to a blessing rather than a curse.
It is implied in Luke 14:28 that there were builders of this tower, and Luke 20:17 and Acts 4:11 show us that these builders were the Jewish authorities. They set themselves up as judges of the people (in the place of the Messiah (cf. Matthew 21:38) and extended and exerted their authority over the nation as much as they could. It was they who caused the Jewish people to reject Jesus as their Messiah.
Daniel had prophesied that the Jewish nation (i.e. Jerusalem and the Temple) would be destroyed for a second time (Daniel 9:26), so the Jews knew something like 70 AD was prophesied to occur.[1] Therefore, Jesus’ words about the certain king counting the cost in Luke 14:31-32 is applied to the Jewish authorities in the first century. Jesus, the King who was coming (Luke 14:32), required them to forsake their own authority and yield to him (Luke 14:26). The terms of peace was to repent and place their trust in Jesus (Micah 4:8-13), in order that the prophecy (i.e. Daniel 9:26) would not be fulfilled in the manner it was in 70 AD.
Jesus concluded his argument by offering another parable about salt that had become worthless (Luke 14:34-35). The properties of salt are both to flavor (influence) and preserve (protect) from corruption. Meat, for example, is salted in order to preserve its value as food, i.e. to keep it from decaying, before we are able to eat it. In ancient times salt could also be used in small amounts as a fertilizer for the land or as a means to retard the decaying animal dung on the dung pile, so that the dung could be used by the farmer over a longer period of time. The problem was, however, in ancient times salt was primarily harvested from places like salt marshes. This means that, unlike modern salt, ancient salt contained impurities.
If, for example, the salt leached away from the product, so that only the impurities remained, it was useless as salt. So, Jesus’ point was it could no longer flavor or preserve. Neither could it be used as fertilizer or to retard the decaying process of other good fertilizers, before they could be used by the farmer. If the Jews were meant to be the salt of the earth, or meant to flavor society for good, and in doing so preserve the nations from incurring the wrath of God too soon, if they had lost the capacity to do this, how could they themselves be flavored or preserved? Who’s equipped to do that kind of thing? Only Jesus!
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[1] Witness to this is found in the Babylonians Talmud: “Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ (Zechariah 11:1) (Sota 6:3).’ ”
Rabbi Zakkai was a principal figure of the Jewish community immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. Shortly after the war, with the permission of the Roman government, the Jewish leadership was transferred to Jamnia, a town along the northern border of the land of Judah and near the Mediterranean.
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