A Day in the Life of A: Cupbearer
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In this ongoing series, I explore the historical and biblical significance of the cupbearer, a high-ranking official tasked with serving wine to kings while safeguarding them from poison. This role, far from being a mere servant, required immense trust and character, as the cupbearer literally risked his life daily.
Wanted: Officer of the Court. Man of high character, full of initiative, friendly, can handle himself in diplomatic situations. Benefits: has direct, intimate, daily access to the King, will be in close relationship. One catch: strong possibility of death at any moment.
If I was to write a resume for a cupbearer, that might be it. A cupbearer’s job was to taste all food and drink that he presents to the king to test for poison. It was the duty of the cupbearer to fill the king’s cup and deliver it to him.
The Cupbearer literally put his life on the line every time he did this. However, if an assassin wanted to take out the king, just knowing the cupbearer was on the scene reduced the poisoning attempts, at least from using poison as the method.
Without a cupbearer it would be vastly easy to slip something into the king’s food or drink. King Henry the VIII had over 200 people employed in his kitchens. Scullery maids, cooks, waiters, carvers, butlers, bakers, gardeners (herbs), butchers and so on all circulated within the kitchens at some point during a meal prep. It would be easy to drop a vial of something into the bowl or plate or cup. So cupbearers were employed as a protective fence to the king.
Far from being a lowly waiter, the Cupbearer was actually a high ranking official in the King’s court. He had to be a man the King could trust.
CUPBEARER: High-ranking official in the courts of ancient Near Eastern kings. The cupbearer was responsible for serving wine at the king’s table and protecting the king from poisoning. The cupbearer was often taken into the king’s confidence and had no small amount of influence on the king’s decisions. The “chief cupbearer” of the Joseph story (Gen. 40:2) was one who was overseer of a staff of his own. Nehemiah was the highly esteemed cupbearer for Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:11; 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chron. 9:4). The Rabshakeh may have been the title given to cupbearers in the Assyrian court (2 Kings 18:17–37; Isa. 36:2). Cupbearer: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.
Pharaoh had a cupbearer, this is the first mention in the Bible. (Genesis 40). When Joseph was in prison, he interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. The baker’s dream bode doom for the baker but Joseph told the cupbearer he would be reinstated.
Genesis 40:1-3 tells the story, “Then it came about after these things, that the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2And Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 3So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the prison, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned.”
We don’t know what the offense was, but given their profession in dutifully protecting the King, there likely was some sort of failure in that regard which offended the king and made him furious. Close proximity to the king offered benefits but it was also fraught with danger.
“As an escort of the monarch at meals, the cupbearer had a unique advantage to petition the king. Not only did the king owe him his life, since the cupbearer tested all the king’s beverages for possible poison, putting his own life at risk, but he also became a close confidant. God sovereignly used this relationship between a Gentile and a Jew to deliver His people, as He did with Joseph, Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai.” Source: John MacArthur Daily Bible
The Queen of Sheba was astounded and left breathless by King Solomon’s banquet, in which the lavish tables of food, the attire of his servants and his cupbearers, left her weak with awe. (1 Kings 10:5)
Cupbearers in the Bible are mentioned in Genesis 40 as I just noted, and also Nehemiah 2:1. Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. He had been so for a long while, long enough that the King knew Nehemiah well. Well enough to notice that though Nehemiah had not been sad in the King’s presence (Neh 2:1b), the King noticed a sudden change of attitude. Nehemiah had received a report that the rebuilding of Jerusalem was a shambles and the gates had been burned. This made Nehemiah mourn and weep for days. (Neh 1:4). The king inquired.
The relationship between cupbearer and king was not SO friendly that it was relaxed. I already noted Pharaoh’s fury with his cupbearer. Now Artaxerxes is asking what made Nehemiah so sad, and scripture says that Nehemiah was “very much afraid.” (Nehemiah 2:2b). Once again, a day with the king might sound nice but it was fraught with danger, given the King’s mood.
“[Nehemiah] feared that either his countenance, his explanation, or his request would anger the king and thus lead to his death“. Source MacArthur Daily Bible. More on that danger of death in a moment.
A cupbearer was busy. Genesis 40:2 mentions the chief of the cupbearer, indicating that some cupbearers had a staff of their own. The cupbearer would serve at all the meals or at any other time the king wanted a beverage. They managed their staff. They were vigilant to guard the king. They were trusted by the king who sometimes solicited his cupbearer for advice.
There is a story recorded by Herodotus. Cambyses II was the son and successor to the throne of Cyrus the Great. He was erratic and quite mad. Prexaspes was Cambyses’ messenger, and Prexaspes’ son was the cupbearer. One day, seeking Prexaspes’ advice on the current gossip as to his own mental state, the king asked his messenger Prexaspes to tell him what they were saying. Prexaspes said they thought Cambyses was great… except maybe he drank a bit too much wine.
Cambyses replied, ‘I’ll soon show you if the Persians speak the truth, or if what they say is not a sign of their own madness rather than of mine. You see your son [the cupbearer] standing there by the door? If I shoot him through the middle of the heart, I shall have proved the Persians’ words empty and meaningless; if I miss, then say, if you will, that the Persians are right, and my wits are gone.’
The erratic king used the boy cupbearer to prove he wasn’t so much of a drunkard that he couldn’t shoot straight. Unfortunately for the boy, the King did not use a dartboard.
“Without another word he drew his bow and shot the boy, and then ordered his body to be cut open and the wound examined; and when the arrow was found to have pierced the heart, he was delighted, and said with a laugh to the boy’s father: ‘There’s proof for you, Prexaspes, that I am sane and the Persians mad. Now tell me if you ever saw anyone shoot so straight.'” ~Herodotus, translated by Heritage History.
Roman Emperor Claudius was one of the kings ruling during the early Christian days, from AD 41 to 54. Tradition and early historians say he was poisoned by his 4th wife Agrippina in collusion with Claudius’ food taster. From History Today:
On 12 October AD 54, the 64-year old emperor presided over a banquet on the Capitol, with his taster, the eunuch Halotus, in attendance. He ate his final meal in his palace the following day. The official story was that he was stricken while watching a performance by some actors. Roman opinion, however, was convinced that Agrippina had poisoned him, either because she would not wait any longer for Nero, now seventeen, to succeed while she could still control him or because she feared that Claudius was about to reinstate Britannicus as his heir. According to Tacitus, Agrippina got Halotus to feed Claudius a poisoned mushroom and when that did not work, Claudius’s doctor put a poisoned feather down his throat, ostensibly to make him vomit. Another account, reported by Suetonius, had a dish of poisoned mushrooms given by Agrippina herself and said the second attempt involved poisoned gruel or a poisoned enema. It was a lingering, painful death.
So the Christians got Nero as King instead of the better candidate Britannicus, and the persecutions began. Yet God is in control.
A day in the life of a cupbearer might be his last at any day! But Nehemiah was a servant of the Lord and dedicated to the Lord’s glory and exaltation. The Lord blessed Nehemiah with the position of cupbearer, blessed him with safety throughout his tenure as cupbearer, and eventually, blessed him with the protected passage back to Jerusalem in order to oversee the rebuilding of the wall.
While food tasters (cupbearers) have largely gone by the wayside as a profession, since high ranking officials have good security where their food and beverages are concerned, there are still some who employ one in these modern days. Saddam Hussein did. Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned in 2004 (but not killed) by a dose of dioxin. The White House keeps all matters of security closely held, but several recent presidents were known to have employed tasters, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. (Source). The White House of course denies this.
Here is an article on White House security around food: Do Presidents Really Have Poison Tasters? Here’s What We Know About White House Food Safety
It’s long been known that the British Royals have protocols regarding certain foods they ingest or not ingest. It’s not because of poison, particularly, it’s to ensure their visit doesn’t end up with inadvertent tummy troubles. For example, they do not eat shellfish such as lobster, crab, and shrimp due to the higher risk of food poisoning or allergic reactions, and they do not eat rare meat, for the reason of possible bacteria or parasites.
Fortunately none of us will ever have to put our lives on the line in this particular way, nor serve at the mercy of crazy insane kings. As a profession, it was an important one back in the Bible days, and it’s interesting to note the situations where they played a godly role.
Previous entries in the series:
A Day in the Life of A: Professional Mourner
|A Day in the Life Of: A Roman Centurion
A Day in the Life of: A Fisherman
A Day in the Life of: A Potter
A Day in the Life of: A Scribe
A Day in the Life of: A Shepherd
A Day in the Life of: A Tanner
A Day in the Life of: A Seller of Purple
A Day in the Life of: Introduction
