I need not make any observation, by way of explaining what is so very plain and well understood in common life, as that of a cup. Neither, indeed should I have thought it necessary to have detained the reader over the word, had that been all that I proposed from it. But as the word cup is sometimes, and indeed, not unfrequently in Scripture, used figuratively, I thought it proper to attend to what is implied in the term. Sometimes the cup is placed for sorrow, and sometimes for joy, and the lot or portion of a man is called his cup. Hence, the Psalmist speaking of the blessings of grace in the Lord Jesus, calls them, the cup of salvation. (Psalms 116:13) And Paul, when describing the blessedness of union with Christ, and communion in consequence thereof with God, calls the ordinance which resembles it, a cup. "The cup which we bless (saith he,) is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" (1 Corinthians 10:16) Sometimes it is made use of to intimate a participation in suffering. "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem! which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out." (Isaiah 51:17) And as this, no doubt, under the language of prophecy, referred to Christ, so in open language the Lord Jesus himself, speaking of his soul-exercises, calls it a cup. (Matthew 26:39-42; John 18:11)
Written as an appendix to his "poor man's commentary", this classic stands the test of time, helping to explain in layman's terms over 1,500 topics, names and places from the Bible.Wikipedia
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