1 Kings 10:5 - "the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her."

Nehemiah 1:11 - "... Now I was cupbearer to the king."

This is an officer of considerable responsibility, who attended Eastern monarchs. This office is of very great antiquity, being mentioned in connection with the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Jewish rulers.

The primary duty of the cupbearer was to taste the foods and wines that were to be served to the king as a pledge that they were not poisoned. So, obviously, if you are going to put your life into a man’s hands in such a way, it is necessary that you have absolute trust in him. So we find that the cupbearer was considered to be a man of total loyalty.

It is only one short step further, then, to seeing that this is also a man who would be held in the highest esteem, and would therefore have great influence on the king. We find that this was true in the case of Nehemiah, who was cupbearer to Artaxerxes. It is even possible that it may have been cupbearers who were the messengers of Assyria called Rab-shakeh who stood before Hezekiah to challenge Israel. There are reliefs from Assyrian palaces which show the cupbearer in a position of importance in relation to the king.

Of course, today we don’t have any professions that fit in exactly with this concept. It really isn’t necessary for most of us to check our food and drink before we dare eat, but, in the essentials, we can say that the present day butler, especially one who has been with his employer for a long time, stands in relationship to the cupbearer. He is rather a buffer between his employer and the world, which tries to intrude in all sort of unpleasant ways.