Watch-towers or fortified posts in frontier or exposed situations are mentioned in Scripture, as the tower of Edar, etc., (Genesis 35:21; Isaiah 21:5,8,11; Micah 4:8) etc.; the tower of Lebanon. (2 Samuel 8:6) Besides these military structures, we read in Scripture of towers built in vineyards as an almost necessary appendage to them. (1 Samuel 5:2; Matthew 22:33; Mark 12:1) Such towers are still in use in Palestine in vineyards, especially near Hebron, and are used as lodges for the keepers of the vineyards.
Tower
A watchman stands on a tower in Jezreel and calls out what he sees coming down the road. Towers in these verses are real structures on Jerusalem’s wall, built or strengthened by Uzziah and Hezekiah and named in Nehemiah’s rebuilding. But the psalmists reach for the same word when they want to say what God is to them: “a strong tower from the enemy.” Proverbs puts it simply: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Psalm 61 is a short, honest place to start.
12 verses
2 Samuel
2 Samuel 22:3
The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
2 Samuel 22:51
He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.
2 Kings
2 Kings 9:17
And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace?
2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 26:9
Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.
2 Chronicles 32:5
Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance.
Nehemiah
Nehemiah 3:1
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.
Nehemiah 12:39
And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.
Psalms
Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalms 61:3
For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.
Psalms 144:2
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Proverbs
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah 31:38
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the city shall be built to the LORD from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.
From Smith's Bible Dictionary
William Smith, 1884