Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 14:28-30

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have [wherewith] to complete it? Lest haply, when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish." — Luke 14:28-30 (ASV)

Which of you, intending to build a tower...?—The words do not depend for their meaning on any local or personal allusion, but it is quite possible that their force may have been heightened for those who heard them by the memory of recent facts. Pilate had begun to build—certainly an aqueduct, probably a tower—and had not been able to finish. (See Notes on Luke 13:4; Matthew 27:16.) He had not counted the cost, and when he was hindered from laying hands on the Corban, or treasure of the Temple, his resources failed.