- Name 39 of 70My High Tower
- HebrewMisgab
- In plain wordsA safe place set up high, out of the enemy's reach
- Where to find itPsalm 18:2 and 2 Samuel 22:3, with Psalm 59
My high tower is the last title in the long list David gives God in Psalm 18:2. It translates the Hebrew word misgab, a high cliff or lookout that is safe because nobody can climb up to it. David was saying that God lifts His people above the reach of what is chasing them. The same name appears in 2 Samuel 22:3, the other place where this song is written down.
The night they watched David's house
To feel this name, go back to a single night early in David's life. He was a young soldier, already famous, and married to Michal, a daughter of King Saul. But Saul had grown so jealous that he had tried to pin David to the wall with a javelin. David dodged, ran home, and thought he might be safe there.
He was not. Saul sent soldiers to surround the house.
Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
1 Samuel 19:11
Michal acted fast. She lowered David through a window, and he went, and fled, and escaped
(1 Samuel 19:12). Then she put a household idol in his bed, covered it, and set goats' hair at the head so the soldiers would think he was lying there sick. By the time they found out, he was gone.
Psalm 59 has a heading that ties it to this very night: it was written when Saul sent men and they watched the house to kill him. David describes the soldiers like a pack of street dogs prowling in the dark: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city
(Psalm 59:6). And as he prays, he keeps reaching for one word.
Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
Psalm 59:9
The English says defence, but the Hebrew is misgab, the high place. If you are trapped at ground level with enemies at the door, height is exactly what you long for. David found it in God.
Misgab: a height nobody can climb
Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, explains misgab as properly a cliff or other lofty, inaccessible place. Inaccessible means you cannot get to it. From there the word came to mean a refuge, a safe place to run to. It appears 17 times in the Hebrew Bible. The King James translators turned it into several English words: defence, refuge and high tower are the most common.
The word grows from the verb sagab, which means to be high, to be set on high, and so to be safe. That is the heart of this name. In the Hebrew way of thinking, being lifted up and being kept safe were nearly the same thing. A city on a hilltop or a tower on a cliff did not need to win every fight. Arrows and spears simply fell short.
So the high tower is a little different from the fortress and the buckler in the same verse. A fortress is about strong walls. A buckler is about a shield in close combat. The high tower is about distance: God puts space between you and the danger by raising you above it.
Proverbs 18:10, the verse behind the shirt
The verb sagab shows up in one of the best-known verses about God's name, the verse the 70 Names of God shirt is built around.
The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit.
Proverbs 18:10-11
The word safe in verse 10 is sagab: the person who runs into God's name is set up high, out of reach. Then look at verse 11. The word high in high wall is the same verb. The two verses seem to be placed side by side on purpose. Everyone runs somewhere when they are scared. One person runs into the name of the LORD. Another runs behind his money. But the rich man's wall is high only in his own conceit, an old word for imagination or pride. It looks tall to him. It is not.
Key King James verses for the high tower
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 22:3
This is the other copy of David's song. It adds a few words after high tower that Psalm 18 does not have, ending with a short, strong line: You save me from violence.
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 9:9
Both times the word refuge appears here, the Hebrew is misgab. The oppressed are people being pressed down by others. The lowest people get the highest place.
He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.
Psalm 62:6
Defence is misgab again. Someone standing on a high rock does not get shoved around by the crowd below.
He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
Isaiah 33:16
Munitions here means fortifications, strong rock walls. Isaiah promises the honest person a home up high, with bread and water that will not run out.
Climbing into the high tower today
Some attacks do not stop. Gossip that follows you from one group to the next. A group chat that turns on you. A coworker who looks for every mistake. A family fight that flares up at every holiday. If you try to answer each one at ground level, you will wear out fast.
The high tower gives you another option. You can step back and go up. That does not mean ignoring real problems or refusing help. It means taking your fear to God first, letting Him lift your heart above the noise, and seeing things from higher ground before you go back down and deal with them. Hurtful words can reach your phone. They cannot reach who you are before God.
- Notice where your mind runs first when you are scared: to money, to a person, to your phone, or to God.
- Read Psalm 59 and look for the word defence each time it appears. Each one is the high tower.
- Memorize Proverbs 18:10 and say it when you feel cornered.
- Thank God for the Michals in your life, the people who helped you get out when you could not do it alone.
The high tower closes the list in Psalm 18:2, after my buckler. The next name in the book is God our refuge and strength from Psalm 46, a psalm that uses this same word in its chorus. For the full set, see the Hebrew names of God page.
