The Watchtower in the Vineyard

The Watchman's Booth

This was also called a watchman's booth, which was a small sheltered tower in the midst of a vineyard.

They were very important during harvest time, where the whole family would often reside. The watchtower was a symbol of protection from enemies and thieves and rising above them.

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."
- Proverbs 18:10

"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."
- Psalm 27:5-6

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
- Isaiah 62:6-7

"Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes."
- Isaiah 5:1-2

"And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city."
- Isaiah 1:8

Heart Message

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." - Proverbs 18:10

A Tower of Refuge and Strength

The tower in the vineyard was practically mandatory, because it provided answers for life’s important & pressing questions.

Where are my children? Climb up into the tower and look.

How is the harvest? Climb the tower and see.

Where are the workers? Look for them from the tower.

Where shall I rest with some sense of protection? In the tower.

Where shall I store our supplies? In the protection of the tower.

Where can I collect my thoughts and pray? Climb the tower.

Where should my children go when bears enter the vineyard? The tower.

If intruders enter, where is the safest place for us to withstand them? The safest place in the vineyard, was the vineyard high tower.

For the ancients, the tower was a symbol of strength, visibility and protection. The Lord God is the fulfillment of that symbol. He offers Himself to be the answer to our most anxious and pressing questions.

How are my children? God is my tower.

How are the finances doing? God is my tower.

Where can I find peace amidst the strife in my family? I will pray from my tower.

How can I solve these difficult problems? I will run to my tower and receive guidance.

Where can I find peace? Within my tower of refuge and strength.

Where will I find love? From Love Himself, the Lord, who made us and fashioned us, and calls us to seek and find Him in the high place, the place of seeing, the place of solidness, the fortress on high; the truly safest on earth, the Lord our Tower.

Psalm 18:1-2 - “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. 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.”

The Bible mentions a lot regarding the Watch Tower:

Isaiah 21:5 - Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, [and] anoint the shield.

Isaiah 21:8 - And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights:

Ezekiel 30:6 - Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 14:10 - All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and [from] the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.

Isaiah 5:2 - And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Habakkuk 2:1 - I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

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?

Judges 9:49 - And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put [them] to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women.

Micah 4:8 - And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

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.

Nehemiah 12:38 - And the other [company of them that gave] thanks went over against [them], and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;

2 Kings 17:9 - And the children of Israel did secretly [those] things that [were] not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

Nehemiah 3:25 - Palal the son of Uzai, over against the turning [of the wall], and the tower which lieth out from the king's high house, that [was] by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh.

Ezekiel 29:10 - Behold, therefore I [am] against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste [and] desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.

Matthew 21:33 - Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:

Mark 12:1 - And he began to speak unto them by parables. A [certain] man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about [it], and digged [a place for] the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

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 Chronicles 20:24 - And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they [were] dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

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.

Song of Solomon 4:4 - Thy neck [is] like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

Genesis 11:4 - And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

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 18:8 - He smote the Philistines, [even] unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

Nehemiah 3:26 - Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel, unto [the place] over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out.

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.

Nehemiah 3:11 - Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces.

Nehemiah 3:27 - After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel.

Luke 13:4 - Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

Luke 14:28 - For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have [sufficient] to finish [it]?

Judges 9:46 - And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard [that], they entered into an hold of the house of the god Berith.

Genesis 35:21 - And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.

Psalms 61:3 - For thou hast been a shelter for me, [and] a strong tower from the enemy.