מִגְדָּל

A tower is a raised structure that may serve observation, defense, or prominence. The same Hebrew entry can name the raised wooden platform from which Ezra reads the law. Its height is a physical feature before it becomes an image. At Babel, people build a tower in pursuit of a name for themselves. In Isaiah's vineyard song, a watchtower belongs to the owner's careful provision. Neither use makes height intrinsically holy or sinful; the expressed purpose gives the structure its role.

Proverbs 18:10 makes a deliberate comparison: the Lord's name is a strong tower to which the righteous run. The next verse describes a wealthy person's imagined security in possessions. The contrast directs trust toward the Lord rather than toward resources treated as impregnable. This is not a formula in which pronouncing a name guarantees protection from every difficulty. The image calls for reliance on the God who makes Himself known, while retaining the ordinary noun's different uses in construction, public reading, and prophetic poetry.

Babel's ambitious tower, Isaiah's vineyard watchtower, Ezra's reading platform, and the proverb's strong refuge show four distinct functions of a raised structure. The purposes stated in those passages govern their interpretation.