Cupbearer
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Gen. 40:1)—an officer entrusted with serving wine to a ruler and guarding against poison or treachery. The office carried unusual access to the sovereign and could therefore become a position of confidence and influence. Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer was imprisoned with Joseph, received from him the interpretation of his dream, and later remembered Joseph before Pharaoh (Gen. 40:1-23; 41:9-13). Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and used his access to seek permission to rebuild Jerusalem (Neh. 1:11-2:8).
The Assyrian title Rabshakeh originally meant “chief cupbearer,” though in 2 Kings 18 it designates a senior royal spokesman and military official rather than a domestic servant.