Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 40:11
And Pharaoh’s cup [was] in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
11. pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup ] The cupbearer did not squeeze grapes into his master’s cup in order to make wine. He squeezed, and at once the cup was full of wine. This is one of the fancies occurring in a dream. Dream-land is true to experience, and yet possesses, here and there, odd fantastic features. It is a feature in this dream that all the difficulties are successfully overcome; the chief butler, at the end of it, holds Pharaoh’s cup.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. And I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup] From this we find that wine anciently was the mere expressed juice of the grape, without fermentation. The saky, or cup-bearer, took the bunch, pressed the juice into the cup, and instantly delivered it into the hands of his master. This was anciently the yain of the Hebrews, the of the Greeks, and the mustum of the ancient Latins.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And Pharaoh’s cup [was] in his hand,…. So it seemed to him in his dream, as it often had been when in his office:
and I took the grapes; from off the vine that was before him:
and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup; which some think was the custom of those times, to take a bunch of grapes and squeeze them into a cup, especially when they would make trial of what sort of wine they would produce; for it can hardly be thought that this was usually done, or that it was customary to drink such new wine; but it is more probable that the grapes were first pressed into another vessel, and so made wine of, and then poured into Pharaoh’s cup, or mixed in it, though this circumstance is omitted. Indeed Herodotus a relates of the Egyptian priests, that wine pressed out of the vine is given them:
and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; as he had used to do.
a Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 37.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) And pressed them.Plutarch, Is. et Osir. 6, says that before the time of Psammetichus the Egyptians did not drink wine, nor make libations of it to the gods. This statement has been abundantly disproved, and probably arose from the writer supposing that the custom of, possibly, one district was the universal rule. Nevertheless, the kings drink here does not seem to have been fermented wine, but a sort of sherbet made of fresh grape-juice and water. It is a pleasant beverage, still much used in the East, but sometimes the grape juice is left till fermentation has just begun when it acquires a pleasant briskness, and is less cloying.
Into Pharaohs hand.Heb., I placed the cup upon Pharaohs palm. The word is used in Gen. 32:25 of the hollow of Jacobs thigh (see Note there). Here it means the hollow produced by bending the fingers inwards. Now the Hebrews always spoke of placing the cup in a persons hand (Eze. 23:31, and see Psa. 75:8; Jer. 51:7); and even here Joseph, though probably speaking the Egyptian language, nevertheless used the Hebrew idiom, saying, thou wilt give Pharaohs cup into his hand. It is the Egyptian cup-bearer, who, using the idiom of his own country, speaks of placing the cup upon Pharaohs palm, the reason being that Egyptian cups had no stems, but were flat bowls or saucers, held in the very way which the cup-bearer describes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 40:11 And Pharaoh’s cup [was] in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
Ver. 11. And pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup.] That he might have his wine fresh and new.
“Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
pressed, &c. A religious ceremony, connected with the worship of Horus, portrayed in Egyptian paintings. Existence of vines in Egypt has been denied by critics; but now they are seen depicted in paintings. In the cup was honey, or some other liquid, with which the grape juice was mixed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And I took: etc. From this we find that wine anciently was the mere expressed juice of the grape, without fermentation. The saky, or cup-bearer, took the bunch, pressed the juice into the cup, and instantly delivered it to his master.
pressed: Gen 49:11, Lev 10:9, Pro 3:10
hand: Gen 40:21, 1Ki 10:5, 2Ch 9:4, Neh 1:11, Neh 2:1
Reciprocal: Mar 6:16 – It is