For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
Psalm 75 shows God settling accounts with a proud world. Verse 8 puts a cup in His hand, and it raises three questions: what is in the cup, who must drink it, and how much of it they must swallow.
The cup in God's hand
In the ancient world, a cup handed to a person could be a sentence. One writer explains the custom:
The Bible TreasuryThe cup stands for a verdict. The ruler of the feast sent the cup to whomever he chose, in whatever order, and with whatever contents he judged best. So Psalm 75:7-8: "It is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup." A judging or "divining cup" was common among ancient peoples; Joseph refers to the idea in Genesis 44:15. Now this cup may contain either happiness or condemnation.
Why no other direction helps
The verse opens with "For," tying it back to the verses just before. Those verses look in every direction for help:
Hamilton SmithDeliverance comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. The north is not mentioned. One suggestion is that the enemy attacking the land of Israel comes from that direction, so no one would look for help from the north. The people of God have to learn that help does not come from any quarter of the earth. It comes from God: God is the Judge; He puts down one and lifts up another.
Mixed to be stronger, not weaker
What is the "well mixed" wine of the verse? One writer explains what was added, and why:
Hamilton SmithIn the hand of the Lord there is a cup of judgment. This cup is full of mixture, a reference to the aromatic herbs mixed with wine to add to its intoxicating power. God will make the wicked drink this cup down to its dregs.
The colour and the sediment
One writer follows an older translation that reads "the wine is red" where the ESV has "foaming wine." He takes the colour as a warning of what is coming:
L. M. GrantThe wine being red symbolises the dreadful bloodshed that will take place at that time — in fact blood up to the horses' bridles through the whole land of Israel (Revelation 14:20). The bridle is what controls the war horse, and the bloodshed will be so dreadful as to be beyond man's control.
The dregs are not the leftovers nobody wants. They are the part that has been settling the longest:
Numerical Bible NotesBut who will be able to stand when God comes in? The fire of His jealousy will consume all the earth: "For a cup is in Jehovah's hand... surely the dregs of it" — that which remains for the last, and is the strongest part — "all the wicked of the earth shall drain off and drink." It is the day of wrath and of the curse upon iniquity — the day that brings down all the pride of man.
Nothing added to soften it
Revelation 14 shows this same cup poured out. One writer joins the two passages:
Walter ScottThe nations had drunk out of the prostitute's cup (Revelation 14:8); now in fair repayment they shall drink out of God's cup (Revelation 14:10). In this cup there are no ingredients that soften it (Psalm 75:8). It is pure, unmixed wrath.
The cup Messiah does not drink
The psalm holds two cups side by side, and the one handed round in verse 8 never reaches the King who is speaking:
J. G. BellettThe wine cup, the cup of trembling, the cup of His fury, the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath — these are various names for the same cup. It is the emblem of divine judgments... Here is a striking and beautiful point in this Psalm. The cup drunk here by the people of the earth does not pass on to Messiah. He takes the other cup instead, and at once calls on the name of the Lord... The cup of anger is for their hand, the cup of salvation for His. He once took, indeed, the cup of sorrows, the cup of Gethsemane, for us poor sinners.
Summary
- Whose cup — The cup pictures a ruler passing sentence, deciding who gets what. Here it is in God's hand, because God is the Judge.
- What's in it — Aromatic herbs went into the wine to make it stronger. Nothing in this cup softens it.
- How deep — The dregs are the settled part at the bottom, the strongest of all. They are not spilled out; they are drained.
- Who drinks — Not a few ringleaders, but "all the wicked of the earth." Revelation shows the same cup, with nothing in it to take the edge off.
- Which cup is yours — Two cups run through Scripture. Messiah drank the cup of sorrows in Gethsemane for sinners. He takes the cup of salvation. The cup of anger stays in the hand of the wicked of the earth.