-
CunAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
CUN
[firm, upright].
One of the cities of King Hadadezer of Zobah from which David took large amounts of copper, later used in the temple construction. (1 Chron. 18:8) In the parallel account at 2 Samuel 8:8 the name Berothai appears in its place and may refer to the same place. Others suggest that modern Kuna, some distance N of Bereitan, the suggested location of Berothai, is possibly to be identified with the Biblical Cun.—See BEROTHAH, BEROTHAI.
-
-
CupAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
CUP
See VESSELS.
-
-
CupbearerAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
CUPBEARER
An official of the royal court who served wine or other drinks to the king. (Gen. 40:1, 2, 11; Neh. 1:11; 2:1) The duties of the chief cupbearer sometimes included testing wine by tasting it before giving it to the king. This was because the possibility always existed that an attempt might be made on the king’s life by poisoning his wine.
The historian Xenophon describes the procedure of the wine service of the Persian and Median kings. Cupbearers would bring the wine to the chief cupbearer, who washed the cup in the king’s presence, pourer a little of the wine into his left hand and drank it. Then, lightly holding the cup between thumb and fingers, he handed it to the king. Because of such care, Egyptian cupbearers were often called “pure of hands.”
Thorough trustworthiness was a chief qualification for the office, since the life of the king was at stake. The position was one of the most honorable in the court. The chief cupbearer was often present at royal conferences and discussions. Being in a close and usually confidential relationship with the king, he often had considerable influence with the monarch. It was Pharaoh’s cupbearer who recommended Joseph. (Gen. 41:9-13) King Artaxerxes of Persia had a high regard for his cupbearer, Nehemiah. (Neh. 2:6-8) When Nehemiah traveled to Jerusalem, Artaxerxes provided him with a military escort.—Neh. 2:9.
The fact that cupbearers are often present in ancient illustrations indicates the importance of their position. The queen of Sheba was greatly impressed by Solomon’s “drinking service and their attire.”—2 Chron. 9:4.
-
-
CurseAid to Bible Understanding
-
-
CURSE
The desiring, threatening or pronouncing of evil upon someone or something is the basic idea of a number of Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible that are translated by the word “curse,” or similar expressions.
The first curse employed was, logically, at the time of the Edenic rebellion and was directed by God against the instigator of the rebellion through the agent that one employed, the serpent. (Gen. 3:14, 15) This curse was to end in his destruction. At the same time the ground was cursed on Adam’s account, resulting in its producing thorns and thistles but not in its destruction. (Gen. 3:17, 18; 5:29) The curse that Jehovah placed on Cain condemned him to a fugitive life. (Gen. 4:11, 12) Following the Flood, the first curse pronounced by a human was that which Noah directed against Canaan, son of Ham, condemning him to slave for Shem and Japheth, a curse that saw its major realization some eight centuries later with the conquest of Canaan by the Shemite nation of Israel. (Gen. 9:25-27) Thus the Gibeonites, descendants of Canaan, were told by Joshua that they were a “cursed people,” in view of which they were assigned to a slave’s postition.—Josh. 9:23.
Such cursing, therefore, should not be confused with mere profanity, nor does it necessarily imply violent anger, as is evident from the case of the Gibeonites. In the above texts the Hebrew word ʼa·rarʹ is used. This word is found eighteen times in the formal declaration of pronouncements at Deuteronomy 27:15-26; 28:16-19, and, also, in solemn pronouncement, such as those at Exodus 22:28; Jeremiah 11:3; 17:5, and 48:10. The related noun mee·rahʹ is used at Deuteronomy 28:20; Malachi 3:9, and other texts. The Bible usage of these words indicates a solemn pronouncement or prediction of evil and, when made by God or by an authorized person, has a prophetic value and force. Joshua’s curse made against any man who, in the future, might rebuild devastated Jericho was fulfilled many centuries later. (Josh. 6:26; 1 Ki. 16:34) King Balak’s requests for Balaam to curse Israel, however, were disapproved by Jehovah, and he caused blessings to be pronounced instead.—Num. 22:6–24:25.
ʼA·lahʹ, another Hebrew word rendered “oath” as well as “curse,” implies an oath that carries with it a curse as its penalty for violation of the oath, or because of the oath’s proving to be false.—Num. 5:21, 23, 27; Deut. 29:19-21; 2 Chron. 34:24; 1 Ki. 8:31, 32; see OATH.
In the Greek Scriptures the two basic words translated “curse” are a·raʹ and a·naʹthe·ma, along with intensified forms such as ka·taʹra, e·pi·ka·taʹra·tos, ka·ta·raʹo·mai, ka·taʹthe·ma (or ka·ta·naʹthe·ma), and ka·ta·na·the·ma·tiʹzo.
The word a·raʹ has the meaning of an imprecation or a prayer calling down evil from a divine source. John uses a form of this word in writing that the Pharisees viewed the common people who listened to Jesus as “accursed people” who did not know the Law. (John 7:49) By contrast, Paul showed that all the Jews needed to be redeemed from the curse of the Law covenant by Christ’s becoming a curse for them through his death on the torture stake. (Gal. 3:10, 13) At Galatians 3:10 Paul used e·pi·ka·taʹra·tos to translate the Hebrew word ʼa·rarʹ (the first word considered in this article), as found at Deuteronomy 27:26. In verse 13 he used the same word to translate the Hebrew word qela·lahʹ, as found at Deuteronomy 21:23.—See MALEDICTION.
A form of the word a·raʹ is used to describe Jesus’ action in cursing the “goat” class (Matt. 25:41), and also in instructing his followers to “bless those cursing you.” (Luke 6:28) Paul and James used similar forms in giving like counsel at Romans 12:14 and James 3:9, 10. Paul used an intensive form of the word in likening Christians who fall away after having partaken of holy spirit to the “ground” that is unresponsive to rain and that produces only thorns and thistles (Heb. 6:8), while Peter uses the same word to describe as “accursed children” those who are covetous, “have eyes full of adultery,” and who entice unsteady souls.—2 Pet. 2:14.
The word a·naʹthe·ma literally means that which is “laid up,” and originally applied to votive offerings laid up or set apart as sacred in a temple. (See Luke 21:5, where a related word is used.) In the Greek Scriptures the Bible writers use a·naʹthe·ma to apply to that which is accursed or subject to becoming accursed and, therefore, set apart as evil or execrated. Thus Paul wrote to the Galatians (1:8) that they should consider as “accursed” anyone (even angels) who declared to them as good news something contrary to that which they had received. Those who had “no affection for the Lord” were due to come under a similar designation. (1 Cor. 16:22) In his anguish over his fellow Israelites who had not accepted Christ, Paul said that he could even wish that he himself were “separated as the cursed one from the Christ” in their behalf. (Rom. 9:3) In other cases a·naʹthe·ma is evidently used to refer to the declaring of an oath that, if not carried out or if proved false, was intended to result in a curse, as in the case of the forty men who formed the oath-bound conspiracy to kill Paul (Acts 23:12-15, 21), and in Peter’s denial of Christ. (Matt. 26:74; Mark 14:71) In effect, Peter was here saying that he wished he ‘might be cursed or damned if he knew the man.’
At Revelation 22:3 the promise is made concerning the New Jerusalem that “no more will there be any curse [ka·taʹthe·ma].” This appears to serve as a contrast with earthly Jerusalem, which did come under God’s curse. It is likewise in sharp contrast to the cursed condition that results to the symbolic city of “Babylon the great” as a result of God’s judicial decree against her. The “anathema” pronounced
-