A CUPBEARER — literally 'one who gives drink.' The KJV's 'butler' has shrunk over four centuries into a comic figure in a tailcoat; the office was enormous. A king's cupbearer tasted what the king swallowed, so he was chosen for loyalty above almost anyone at court and stood nearer the royal ear than most ministers. Nehemiah holds the post under the king of Persia and uses a single unhappy expression to get imperial policy changed (Nehemiah 1-2). The man in Genesis 40 is 'chief of the cupbearers,' a saris of Pharaoh's court — and the one person positioned to say Joseph's name to a king. → first discussed at Gen 40:1