A study of the significance and symbology of cups and cup bearers in scripture

1. Cups and
cupbearers
in scripture

2. 1. Cupbearers
2. Cups

3. Cupbearers
• Very responsible position
• Kings right hand man
– Duty to fill the king’s cup & present it
to him personally
– Taste beforehand for poison etc
– Confidential relationship & influence
• Highly paid

4. Cupbearers contd
• Hebrew = shaqah
– Solomon & Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:5,
2 Chron 9:4)
– Nehemiah (Neh 1:11)
• Also translated butler (x9)
– Joseph (Gen 40,41)
• Rabshakeh ?
– rab – chief, shakeh - cupbearer

5. Solomon & Queen of Sheba
“And when the queen of Sheba had seen all
Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had
built, And the meat of his table, and the
sitting of his servants, and the attendance of
his ministers, and their apparel, and his
cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up
unto the house of the LORD; there was no
more spirit in her.” (1 Kings 10:4-5)

6. Nehemiah
His sadness immediately recognised

7. Nehemiah’s wealth
“…let the exacting of usury stop! Give back to them
immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses,
and also the usury you are charging them…"We will give it
back," they said. "And we will not demand anything more
from them. We will do as you say."….Moreover, from the
twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to
be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-
second year — twelve years — neither I nor my brothers ate
the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors
— those preceding me — placed a heavy burden on the
people and took forty shekels of silver from them in
addition to food and wine..…Furthermore, a hundred and
fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those
who came to us from the surrounding nations.
(Nehemiah 5:8-17; NIV)

8. Pharaoh’s butler
“Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the
chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put
them in custody in the house of the captain of
the guard, in the same prison where Joseph
was confined. The captain of the guard
assigned them to Joseph, and he attended
them.” (Genesis 40:2-4; NIV)
“And he restored the chief butler unto his
butlership again; and he gave the cup into
Pharaoh's hand:” (Genesis 40:21)

9. Rabshakeh
“And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and
Rabsaris and Rabshakeh (?chief
cupbearer) from Lachish to king Hezekiah
with a great host against Jerusalem. And
they went up and came to Jerusalem. And
when they were come up, they came and
stood by the conduit of the upper pool,
which is in the highway of the fuller's
field.” (2 Kings 18:17)

10. Rabshakeh
• KJV - Rabshakeh
• NKJV – the Rabshakeh
• AMPC – the Rabshakeh
• RSV – the Rabshakeh
• NIV – field commander
• NET – chief adviser
• NLT – chief of staff
• YLT – chief of the butlers

11. Cups

12. Cups

13. Cups

14. Cups
Silver bowl with inscription
of Artaxerxes 1
“Artaxerxes the great king,
king of kings……in whose
house this silver drinking cup
was made.”

15. Cups
• OT – x37 (30=kowc)
• NT – x32 (poterion)

16. Cups
• Related to drink / wine
• Negative – drunkenness
• “Positive” - blessing

17. Cups
• Cup of Aholah
• Cup of trembling
• Pharisees
• Cups in Revelation
• Joseph’s cup
• Cup of blessing

18. Cup of Aholah
• Aholah & Aholibah
– God’s unfaithful wives
• Aholah = Israel / Samaria
• Aholibah = Judah / Jerusalem
• Described as prostitutes – made
political alliances with nations (Assyria
and Babylon)

19. Cup of Aholah
“ Thou (Aholibah) hast walked in the way of thy sister
(Aholah) ; therefore will I give her (Aholah’s) cup into
thine hand. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink
of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed
to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. Thou
shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the
cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy
sister Samaria. Thou shalt even drink it and suck it
out…..for I have spoken it, saith the Lord
GOD. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back,
therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy
whoredoms.” (Ezekiel 23:32-35)

20. Cup of drunkenness
“For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take
the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the
nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall
drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword
that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the
LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto
whom the LORD had sent me:…….Therefore thou shalt
say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall,
and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send
among you. ” (Jeremiah 25:15-17,27)

21. Cup of “trembling”
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends
all the surrounding peoples reeling” (NIV)
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of
trembling unto all the people round about,
when they shall be in the siege both against
Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day
will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for
all people: all that burden themselves with it
shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of
the earth be gathered together against it.”
(Zechariah 12:2-3)

22. Cup of “trembling”
• Drama that will envelop Jerusalem at
the time of the end
• Trembling – a reeling (from intoxication)
• A “poisoned chalice” given to the nations
gathered around the city
• Nations intoxicated with the thought of
the prize

23. Pharisees
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside
of the cup and of the platter, but within
they are full of extortion and
excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which is within the cup and
platter, that the outside of them may be
clean also.” (Matthew 23:25-26)

24. Cups in Revelation
Cup of indignation (Rev 14:10)
“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels, and in the
presence of the Lamb”
• Warning against following the papal system
• “without mixture” – no drugs to dull pain

25. Cups in Revelation
“And the great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before
God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath.”
• Similar to Rev 14:10
Cup of wrath (Rev 16:19)

26. Cups in Revelation
“And the woman (Rome) was arrayed in purple
and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup
in her hand full of abominations and filthiness
of her fornication”
• Designed to attract her supporters
• Reduce their resistance to her wickedness
• Jeremiah 51:7 – historic Babylon
Golden cup (Rev 17:4)

27. Cups in Revelation
“Reward her (Rome) even as she rewarded you
(the saints), and double unto her double
according to her works: in the cup which she
hath filled fill to her double.”
• Rome will now experience twice the amount of
wrath etc
A double cup (Rev 18:6)

28. Joseph’s cup
“And put my cup, the silver cup, in the
sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn
money. And he did according to the word
that Joseph had spoken.” (Genesis 44:2)
• Cup = gbiya – larger cup or goblet (Jer 35:5)
• Particularly prized possession

29. Joseph’s cup
“Is not this it in which my lord drinketh,
and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have
done evil in so doing. (Genesis 44:5)
• Divination = nachash also learn by
experience, diligently observe
(Gen 30:27)
• Cup of testing – i.e. would Benjamin be
abandoned?

30. Cup of blessing
• Very familiar with it
• Our cup of testing
• Must examine ourselves

31. Cup of blessing
“And he took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of
it; For this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. But I say unto you, I
will not drink henceforth of this fruit of
the vine, until that day when I drink it
new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
(Matthew 26:27-29)

32. Cup of blessing
“The cup of blessing which we bless,
is it not the communion of the blood
of Christ?”
(1 Corinthians 10:16)

33. Cup of blessing
“After the same manner also he took the
cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood: this do
ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance
of me. For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's
death till he come.” (1 Corinthians 11:25-
26)

34. Cup of blessing
“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and
drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be
guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But
let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of
that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that
eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

35. Summary
• Cup of blessing very different
• Sip rather than excess
• Represents blood/death of Jesus
• New covenant/testament
• Forgiveness of sins
• Communion/fellowship with Jesus
• Must continually examine ourselves
• Jesus will drink it new with us in the
Kingdom