1306. That “a tower” is the worship of self, is evident from the signification of “a tower.” The worship of self exists when a man exalts himself above others even to the point of being worshiped. And therefore the love of self, which is arrogance and pride, is called “height,” “loftiness,” and “being lifted up;” and is described by all things that are high. As in Isaiah:
The eyes of man’s pride shall be humbled, and the loftiness of men shall be brought low, and Jehovah Himself alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of Jehovah of Armies is upon everyone proud and high and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be humbled; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fenced wall (Isaiah 2:11-18); concerning the love of self, which is described by the “cedars,” “oaks,” “mountains,” “hills,” and “tower” that are “high” and “lifted up.”
[2] Again:
There shall be rivers, streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers shall fall (Isaiah 30:25);
in like manner denoting the love of self, and the exalting of self in worship. And again:
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not; Asshur hath founded it in tziim; they will set up their watchtowers, they will raise up their palaces, he will make it a ruin (Isaiah 23:13);
said of Tyre and its vastation; “watchtowers,” expressed by another word, denote the phantasies therefrom.
In Ezekiel:
I will cause many nations to come up against thee, O Tyre, and they shall ruin the walls of Tyre, and destroy her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and will make her the dryness of a rock (Ezekiel 26:3-4).
The signification being similar.
[3] The love of self in worship, or the worship of self, is called a “tower,” for the reason that a “city” signifies a doctrine (as before shown, n. 402) and cities were formerly fortified with towers, in which there were watchmen; and there were also towers on the borders, which for this reason were called “towers of watchmen” (2 Kings 9:17; 17:9; 18:8), and “watchtowers” (Isaiah 23:13). And besides, when the church of the Lord is compared to a “vineyard,” those things which belong to worship and to its conservation are compared to a “winepress” and to “a tower in the vineyard,” as is evident in Isaiah 5:1-2; Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1.
