Cup-Bearer

Cup-Bearer. An officer of high rank with Egyptian, Persian and Assyrian, as well as, Jewish monarchs. 1Ki 10:5. It was his duty to fill the king’s cup and present it to him personally. Neh 1:11. The chief cupbearer, or butler, to the king of Egypt was the means of raising Joseph to his high position. Gen 40:1; Gen 40:21; Gen 41:9.

(מִשְׁקֶה, mashkeh’, one who gives to drink; so Gr. οἰνοχόος, wine-pourer; Vulg. pincerna), an officer of high rank with Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian, as well as Jewish monarchs. The chief cup-bearer, or butler, to the king of Egypt was the means of raising Joseph to his high position (Gen 40:12; Gen 41:9). Rabshakeh, who was sent by Sennacherib to Hezekiah, appears from his name to have filled a like office in the Assyrian court (2Ki 18:17; Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1225), and it seems probable, from his association with Rab-saris (chief of the eunuchs), and from Eastern custom in general, that he was, like him, a eunuch (Gesen. p. 973). SEE RABSHAKEH. Herod the Great had an establishment of eunuchs, of whom one was a cup-bearer (Josephus, Ant. 16:8, 1). Nehemiah was cupbearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia (Neh 1:11; Neh 2:1). Cup- bearers are mentioned amonn the attendants of Solomon (1Ki 10:5; 2Ch 9:4; so Achiacharus, Tob 1:22). They are frequently represented on the Assyrian monuments (Bonomi, Nin. p. 250), always as eunuchs (Lavard. Nin. 2:253).

Cup-bearer. An officer of high dignity at Eastern courts, as the butler of Pharaoh. Gen 40:1-23; Gen 41:9. Cup-bearers are mentioned in the description of Solomon’s court, 1Ki 10:5; and Rabshakeh, as his name indicates, was cup-bearer to the king of Assyria. 2Ki 18:17. Nehemiah held the same post under Artaxerxes. Neh 1:11; Neh 2:1. And it was not only an honorable appointment, but must have been a source of great emolument, for Nehemiah was evidently a man of wealth. Neh 5:14-19. The cup was washed in the king’s presence, and when filled, after the officer had tasted a little of the wine, which he poured into his left hand, was presented on three fingers. So no modern Eastern attendant ever grasps any vessel he offers to his master, but places it on his left hand, and steadies it with his right.

Another name for ’butler,’ who presented the cup to the king, and was responsible to see that there was nothing injurious in it. 1Ki 10:5; 2Ch 9:4; Neh 1:11.