Ancient AasTiiAn Cup of Libation after a Bull-hunt.
zarf with ihefngan placed in it. Some tarfo are of plain or gilt silver filigree, and a few opulent persons have them of gold. Many Moslems, however, relig-
Modem Oriental Coffee-seryice.
iously disallow all utensils of gold and of silver (Lane, Mod. Eg, i, 206). See Cup-bearer.
The practice of divining by means of a cup ($*^^A, goH^Oy Gen. xliv, 2-17; a goblet^ distinguished from the preceding or smaller cups used in drinking ; ren- dered "pot" in Jer. xxxv, 5; spoken of the calix- form '* bowls" of the golden candlestick, Exod. xxv, 81-34 ; xxxviii, 17-20) was a practice of great an- tiquity in the East. We read in early Persian au- thors of the mystical cup of Jemshid (Bonomi, iVtne- reh^ 8d ed. p. 806), which was imagined to display all the occurrences on the face of the globe (Tieroff, De Scypho Jotephtj Jen. 1667; Tittel,«. Tor. 1727). SeeDiviNA- Tiow. The bronze cup, with the sacred beetle engraved in the bottom, found by Layard among the ruins of Nimroud, may have been used for such a pur- pose {Nineveh and Babylon, p. 167). KovSv, the word used in Gen. by the Sept., occurs in Hipparchus (op. A then, p. 478, A), and is curiously, like the Indian hmdi, a sacred Indian cup (Bohlen on Gen, p. 408 ;
Ancient Assyrian Mystical Cup.
or religious drinking after public exploits (Boncim, Nineveh, p. 262). In the Apocrypha we find tlie sa- cred vesels of Jehovah called tnrov^eta, goblets (1 Eei. ii, 18. " In their ctip«" 1 Esd. iii, 22, is a rendering fi>r 8rav irivuxn, tchen they drink). See Babik; Bowl; Dish ; Vase ; Vial, etc.
"The word 'cup' is used in both Testaments m some curious metaphorical phrases. Such are the af ofsalvatton (Psa. cxvi, 13), which Grotius, after Kbb- chi, explains as ' poculum gratiamm actaonxs^* a cvp of wine lifted in thanksgiving to God (comp. Mati. xxvi, 27). That it alludes to a paschal HbaUom on- not be proved ; and that it was understood by the iewi to be expressive of gratitude we may see frtra 3 Mace, vi, 27, where the Jews offer * cups of salvatkn' in token of deliverance. In Jer. xvi, 7 we have the term ^cup of consolation,* which is a reference to the wine drunk at the vtpictiirva, or funeral feasts cf the Jews (2 Sam. iii, 86; Prov. xxxi, 6; Joseph. War, 2, 1). In 1 Cor. X, 16, we find the well-known expres- sion * cup of blessing* (iror^piov rrj^ fv\oytac\ ccb- trasted (ver. 21) with the *ci^ of devils,* The sacn- mental cup is called the cup of blessing because of the blessing pronounced over it (Matt, xxvi, 27; Luke xxii, 17 ; see Lightfoot, Hor. Hdn: in loc.). Ko doubt Paul uses the expression with a reference to the Jew- ish *cup of blessing' (fIS'ja hv Ob), the thirf of the four cups drunk by the Jews at their Paschal fei^t (Scb5ttgen, Hor. Hebr, in 1 Cor.; Jahn, BibL ArdL § 863), but it is scarcely necessary to add that to this Jewish custom our Loi^, in his solemn institution of the Lord's Supper, gave an infinitely nobler and di- viner significance (Buxtorf, De Saerd Cemd, § 46, p 810). Indeed, of itself, the Jetoish custom was liabk to abuse, and similar abuses arose even in Cfariftian times (Augustine, Serm. cxxxii, de tempore; Carpsov, App. CriHc, p. 880 sq.). See Passover. In Psa. xi, 6 ; xvi, 6, * the portion of the cup' is a general ex|»es- sion for the condition of life, either prospenms or mis* erable (Psa. xxiii, 6). A cup is also in Scripture the natural type of sensual allurement (Jer. li, 7; Prov. xxiii, 81 ; Rev. xvii, 4 ; xviii, 6). See Baitqubt.
" But in by far the majority of passages, the cnp is a *cup of astonishment,' a *cup of trembling,' the AiU red fiaming wine-cup of God's wrath and retrtbuthe
CXJP-BEAKER
607
CURCELLJEUS
kdisnation (Psa. Ixxv, 8 ; Isa. li, 17 ; Jer. zxv, 15 ; am. iv, 21; Ezek. zxiii, 82; Zech. xii, 2; Rev. xvi, >, etc.^. There is, in fact, in the prophets do more "eqaeiit or terrific image ; and it is repeated with pa- ietic force in the language of oar Lord's agony (Matt. xvi, 89, 42; John xviii, 11; Mark x, 88). God is ere represented as the master of a banquet, dealing tie madness and stupor of vengeance to guilty guests Vitriziga in Isa. li, 17 ; Wichmannshausen, De tns et remaris CcUiot, in Tke$, Nov. Theol, PkUd, i, 906 sq.). rhe cap thus became an obvious symbol of death (to- 'rfpiov . . . OTifuxtvci Koi tov Bdvarov, Etym. M.) ; md hence the Oriental phrase, to * taste of death,' so »mmon in the N.T. (Matt zvi, 28 ; Mark ix, 1 ; John rlii, 52 ; Heb. ii, 9), in the RabUs (Schdttgen, ffor, llebr, in Matt, zvi)^ in the Arabian poem Antar, and imon^ the Persians (Schleusner, Lex. N. T,, s. v. iro- rffpu>v% Jahn,^»ULilrc^§208). The custom of giv- ing a enp of wine and myrrh to condemned criminals [Otho, Zex. Babb, s. v. Mors) is alluded to in Matt xxvii, 84 ; Mark xv, 22" (Kitto, s. v.). See Wemyss, Ciavis Symbol s. v. ; Stier, Words ofJetus, i, 878 sq. See Cbucifixion.