That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
That drink wine in bowls - in the large vessels or basins in which wine was mixed; not satisfied with the smaller cups in which it was ordinarily drunk, after having been poured from the large mixer [mizrªqeey]. The Hebrew expresses bowls used for sprinkling the blood of sacrifices. The rich seem to have robbed the idolatrous altar of these bowls to drink their wine from.
And anoint themselves with the chief ointments - i:e., the most costly; not for health or cleanliness, but wanton luxury. But they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph - literally, the breach - i:e., the national wound or calamity of the house of Joseph (Psalms 60:2; Ezekiel 34:4), resembling in this the heartlessness of their forefathers, the sons of Jacob, toward the afflicted Joseph, "eating bread," while their brother lay in the pit without water, and then selling him to Ishmaelites. "The breach of Joseph" was owing to the Lord, who "brake out like fire in the house of Joseph" (Amos 5:6).