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Genesis 44
But what strikes the reader most, perhaps, in the account of this transaction, and what seems more to need explanation than almost any other point in the narrative, is that, to enhance the importance and value of the cup, and to deepen the enormity of the offence, the steward is instructed to declare that this was the cup whereby his lord practised divination; and personally, when they came once more before Joseph, he turns to this point himself in the stern question—“Wot ye not that such a man as I would certainly divine?” As we believe this to convey the correct meaning, we shall not trouble the reader with an account of the various interpretations the words have received. It is well known that the ancient Egyptians had a kind of divination by cups, called in Greek kulikomantia or kyadomanteia; and it is remarkable, that in the translation of the Old Testament into Greek by the Seventy, the word kondu is employed, and it is observable, that the sacred chalice of the Hindu priest is to this day called kundi.
However, we should do wrong to suppose that Joseph really practised divination, from his instructing his steward to make the charge in this form. We, with our high Christian standard of truthfulness, cannot altogether approve of his using this pretence; but it is in keeping with the whole transaction, which was a feint throughout. Joseph was supporting the character of an Egyptian of rank, and as it was known that such a person would daily consult his divining cup for the good or evil auguries of the day, the prompt detection of the alleged theft would be the more readily accounted for.
Now, in explanation of this practice of divination by cups, we learn from ancient authorities, that prognostics were drawn from the figures reflected by the rays of light in the clear water which the cup, or basin contained. Another, and perhaps less ancient, mode of divination is said to be thus—Small pieces of gold or silver leaf, or thin plate, were thrown into the cup, intermingled with precious stones, on which certain characters were engraved. Then the inquirer repeated certain forms of adjuration, and invoked his gods. The answer was variously given. Sometimes a voice was heard; sometimes certain of the signs engraven on the stones were seen reflected in the water; and sometimes the image of the person respecting whom inquiry was made, appeared therein. This mode of divination is said to have been common to the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans.
It was also known among the Persians. Nothing is more famous in their history than the cup of Jemsheed. It is from the cup, indeed, that this great king is said to have derived his name. In digging the foundation of the city of Istakhar (Persepolis), a turquoise vase or cup was found in his reign, capable of containing a quart of liquor. The valuable properties of the cup were soon ascertained; it was called Jemsheed, or vase of the sun, and many suppose, that from the possession of this valuable article the monarch took his name. It seems to us more likely, that the story is an invention to account for so remarkable a name as that which the monarch bore. Nevertheless, it is certain that cups or vases named Jem or Giam, Note: This is the orthography of D’Herbelot, from whose Bibliotheque Orientale (arts. Giam and Giamshid), the particulars in this paragraph are chiefly taken. are very famous for their occult qualities. The Orientals make this sort of vase of all kinds of metal, as well as of glass or crystal. They are of various forms, but all make some approach to a spherical figure. They are called not only cups, but mirrors, and celestial globes. The idea connected with them is that, when consulted with proper ceremonies, the matter concerning which any information was desired, was pictorially represented. The cup of Jemsheed was of this sort, and Alexander the Great had another of the kind, by means of which they acquired an exact knowledge of all mundane affairs, nor were the secrets of the supernatural world hidden from them.
We recognize the same notion among the Greeks, in Homer’s description of the cup of Nestor. From the East it travelled westward, and the “crystals” with which those conversant with the occult literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are well acquainted, were no other than such vases or globes—were the same as the Oriental divining cups; and the information sought from them exactly the same, and obtained, or alleged to be obtained, in the same manner. This sort of utensil is well described by Spenser. It was made by Merlin, and was given by him to king Ryence for his protection. The king’s daughter, Britomart, finds it in her father’s chest, and obtains therein a view of a matter which concerned her nearly.
“It vertue had to show in perfect sight
Whatever thing was in the world contayn’d,
Between the lowest earth and heven’s hight,
So that it to the looker appertaynd:
Whatever foe had wrought a friend had faynd,
Therein discovered was, we ought mote pas,
We ought in secret from the same remaynd;
Forthy it round and hollow-shaped was,
Like to the world itself, and seemed a world of glas.” Note: Faerie Queen, iii. 2.
Even at the present time something of the kind, that is to say, the occult or superstitious use of vases or cups, may be found in different countries. Its continued existence in Egypt is shown by a remarkable passage in Norden’s Travels. When this author and his companions had arrived at Derri, the most remote extremity of Egypt, or rather in Nubia, where they were able to deliver themselves from a perilous position only through great presence of mind, they sent one of their company to a malicious and powerful Arab to threaten him. He answered them—“I know what sort of people you are. I have consulted my cup, and found in it that you are from a people of whom one of our prophets has said ‘There will come Franks under every kind of pretence to spy out the land. They will bring hither a great multitude of their countrymen, to conquer the country and destroy the people.’”
But we find the divining cup even in the South Seas. At Tongataboo, one of the Friendly Islands, Captain Cook bestowed upon the king a pewter plate which he had been observed particularly to notice. He received the gift with undisguised satisfaction, and remarked that, whenever he had occasion to go to any of the other islands, he would leave this plate behind him at Tongataboo, as a sort of representative in his absence, that the people might render to it the same obeisance as to himself in person. On being asked, what he had usually employed for that purpose before this plate came into his possession? “we had the satisfaction of hearing from him,” says the Captain, “that this singular honor had hitherto been conferred upon the wooden bowl in which he washed his hands. Another extraordinary use to which the king meant to apply the plate in lieu of his wooden bowl, was, it seems, to discover a thief. He said, that when anything was stolen, and the thief could not be found out, the people were all assembled together before him, when he washed his hands in water in this vessel, after which it was cleaned, and then the whole multitude advanced, one after another, and touched it, in the same manner that they touch his foot, when they pay him obeisance. If the guilty person touched it, he died immediately upon the spot; not by violence, but by the hand of Providence; and if any one refused to touch it, his refusal to touch it, was a clear proof that he was the man.”