Luke 13:1

There were present. Or, “there arrived.” The massacre had just occurred (COL 212, 213), and it may be that the persons who spoke to Christ were the first to bring news of the incident.

At that season. A common Lucan idiom indicating close relationship to the preceding section (see on chapter 12:1). The season was probably the winter of A.D. 30-31. Jesus had been speaking about the signs of the times.

Some that told him. Who these persons were or what their motive was in making this report is not known. There seems no reason to think that their motive was ulterior.

The Galileans. This particular massacre is not mentioned by any writer other than Luke, though Josephus refers to many similar massacres perpetrated by Pilate and various other administrators of the province of Judea (Antiquities xvii. 9. 3; xviii. 3. 2; xx. 5. 3; War ii. 2. 5; 9. 4 [30; 175-177]). A massacre of Samaritan worshipers on Mt. Gerizim a few years later, in A.D. 36, led to the recall of Pilate by Caesar (Antiquities xviii, 4. 1, 2).

Mingled. They were slaughtered while engaged in the very act of offering sacrifices.