Cups and Thresholds

It is a curious fact that one of the Hebrew words for “cup” is the same as the word for “threshold” (SAF). This could be pure coincidence, but I wonder. Cups function as temple instruments in Ex 12:22; 1 Ki 7:50; Jer 52:19. And there are “guardians of the threshold” among the temple personnel – 2 Kings 25:18; 1 Chr 9:19, 22; 23:4. In Esther 2:21, there is a reference to the threshold-guardian of Ahasuerus’ palace, but that could, I suppose, just as easily be taken as the “cup-bearer” or “cup-guardian.”

One common element is that both are used as images of judgment. Judgments take place at doorways and thresholds, at gates, where decisions about entry and exile are made. Cups too figure into the administration of judgment (cf Zech 12:2, using SAF to speak about God’s cup of judgment).

It may be nothing. But it may be something too.