Tower

"tower; small fortress; watchtower; podium." Cognates of this word appear in Ugaritic, Aramaic, Syriac, and Akkadian. The word occurs about 50 times in biblical Hebrew.

Migdal means "tower." This is its use in Gen 11:4 (the first occurrence of the word): "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…." The word often refers to a "small fortress": "And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower" (Judg 8:8-9). Migdal sometimes means "watchtower," one of the specially fortified towers safeguarding the gates of a city and spaced along city walls: "Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the [corner buttress], and fortified them" (2Chron 26:9).

In Neh 8:4 the word is used of a wooden "podium": "And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose…."

is used of "a watchtower in a vineyard," Mat 21:33, Mar 12:1; probably, too, in Luk 14:28 (cp. Isa 5:2); in Luk 13:4, of the "tower in Siloam," the modern Silwan, which is built on a steep escarpment of rock.