Joseph Comes In Contact With Important Court Officials And Interprets Their Dreams (Genesis 40:1-23).
‘And it happened after these things that the cup-bearer of the king of Egypt, and his baker, offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry against his two officers, against the head of the cupbearers and the head of the bakers.'
We note here the old title ‘the king of Egypt' and the new title ‘Pharaoh', the latter probably an updating by Moses. We do not know how the two ‘officers' (saris as with Potiphar) offended but it may be that something made Pharaoh ill and the blame fell equally on the two responsible for his food and drink. Later investigation may then have vindicated the butler and put the blame on the baker.
“The head of the cup-bearers.” The word ‘masqeh' (EV ‘butler') corresponds approximately to the Egyptian wdpw (which has a wider meaning), and is the exact equivalent of the later wb' (c1600 BC onwards). It means cupbearer. The king's cupbearer had an extremely important and high ranking position. It was he who handed the cup to the king after tasting it to check for poison, and he was thus the only one who could slip something into the drink after it had been tested. He was therefore a highly trusted officer. In 13th century BC one such was actually called wb' dp irp - ‘the cupbearer who tastes the wine'.
“The head of the bakers.” Bakers are well known in Egypt but there is no exact equivalent to ‘head of the bakers' as far as we know. However there would clearly be someone who was in charge of the bakers at the various palaces. He too would be responsible to guard against the king being poisoned. He may be the equivalent of ‘the Royal Table Scribe' - ss wdhw nsw.