Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 40

Butler. — Hebrew, one who gives to drink, cupbearer.

As we learn from Genesis 40:11 that it was grape wine which he gave the king to drink, this chapter has been the main reliance of new critics for their argument that the Book of Genesis was not written by Moses. For Herodotus (Book 1, Section 77) states, “The Egyptians make use of wine prepared from barley, because there are no vineyards in their country.” Since Herodotus wrote thirteen centuries after the time of Joseph, these critics contend that not only could the vine not have been introduced into Egypt at such an early date, but also that the records of Joseph’s life could not have been compiled by anyone acquainted with Egypt, despite their otherwise exact knowledge of Egyptian customs.

But when we turn to Herodotus himself, we find the most complete refutation of this statement. For, in Book 2, Section 37, speaking of the generous treatment of the priests, he says that they received an allowance of “grape wine.” Furthermore,Genesis 39:0 tells us that it was the custom to pour wine on a victim about to be sacrificed.

To one accustomed to the extensive vineyards of Greece and Asia Minor, the comparative scarcity of the vine in Egypt, and the use of another common drink in its place, would be striking. However, that Herodotus was guilty of gross exaggeration in his statement is proven by evidence far more trustworthy than his own writings. For, on the tombs at Beni Hassan (which predate the time of Joseph), on those at Thebes, and on the Pyramids, there are representations of vines grown in every way—except the method usual in Italy of festooning them on trees. Every process of the vintage is depicted: grapes in baskets, men trampling them in vats, various forms of presses for squeezing out the juice, jars for storing it, and even various stages of fermentation.

Numerous engravings of the sculptures and paintings on these ancient monuments can be seen in Wilkinson’s Egypt. Furthermore, abundant evidence for the cultivation of the vine in ancient Egypt has been collected, and an account of the vines grown there is provided in Malan’s Philosophy or Truth (pages 31-39). Egypt neither is, nor ever was, a great wine-producing country, but the vine existed from one end of the land to the other, as it does to this day.

Baker. — Wilkinson, in Ancient Egyptians (Volume 2, pages 38-39), provides proof from the monuments that the Egyptians had developed the art of making confectionery to a very high degree of perfection.

In the house of the captain of the guard. —That is, of Potiphar. As he is said to have charged Joseph with the care of these two high officials, he must, by this time, have become aware of his innocence. But as the wife in ancient times in Egypt was endowed with all the husband’s property, and was a formidable person, as we learn from many of the records now being translated and published, Potiphar may not have wished to offend her.

He served them. —Used only of light service. (See Note on Genesis 39:4.)

There is no interpreter. —In Egypt it was the business of men trained for the purpose, called in Genesis 41:8, magicians and wise men, to interpret dreams, and to these men the butler and baker could have no access from their prison. But Joseph denies that art and training can really be effective, and claims that interpretation belongs to God.

And pressed them. —Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, section 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 king’s 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 Pharaoh’s hand. —Hebrew, I placed the cup upon Pharaoh’s palm. The word is used in Genesis 32:25 of the hollow of Jacob’s 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 person’s hand (Ezekiel 23:31, and see Psalms 75:8; Jeremiah 51:7); and even here Joseph, though probably speaking the Egyptian language, nevertheless used the Hebrew idiom, saying, you will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand. It is the Egyptian cup-bearer, who, using the idiom of his own country, speaks of placing the cup upon Pharaoh’s 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.

I was stolen. —Joseph here speaks only generally, as his purpose was to arouse the sympathy of the Egyptian by informing him that he was free born, and reduced to slavery by fraud. It would have done harm rather than good to have said that his sale was owing to family feuds; and, moreover, noble-minded men do not willingly reveal what is to the discredit of their relatives.

Land of the Hebrews. —Jacob and his people had settled possessions in Canaan at Hebron, Shechem, Beer-sheba, etc. The term Hebrew, moreover, was an old one; for in the ancient record of the invasion of Palestine by Chedorlaomer, we saw that Abram was described as the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13). But Joseph did not mean that the land of Canaan belonged to them, but that he was stolen from the settlements of these “immigrants,” and from the land in which they sojourned.