WATCHTOWER

Places of lookout or posts of observation were often built in cities or on city walls. (See TOWER.) Others were constructed in wilderness areas or on frontiers. They were principally designed for military purposes, either to protect a city or a boundary, though they also were constructed as a refuge for shepherds and farmers in isolated places, as well as to enable a watchman to warn of marauders so that flocks and ripening crops in the area might be protected.—2 Chron. 20:24; Isa. 21:8; 32:14.

A number of cities were named Mizpeh (Heb., mits·pehʹ, “watchtower”), probably due to being on high elevations or because of notable towers erected there. Sometimes the Bible distinguished these cities by naming their location, as “Mizpeh of Gilead” (Judg. 11:29) and “Mizpeh in Moab” (1 Sam. 22:3).

A pile of stones was set up by Jacob and called “Galeed” (“Witness heap”) and “The Watchtower,” because, as Laban then said: “Let Jehovah keep watch between me and you when we are situated unseen the one from the other.” (Gen. 31:45-49) This pile of stones would testify to the fact that Jehovah was watching to see that Jacob and Laban carried out their covenant of peace.