cup-bearer of the prince
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
RAB-SHAKEH.The title of an Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] officer, who with the Tartan and the Rab-saris was sent by Sennacherib to Hezekiah to demand the surrender of Jerusalem (2Ki_18:1-37 f., Isa_36:1-22 f.). The word is the Heb. transcription of the Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] rab-shaqça title borne by a military officer of high rank, subordinate to the Tartan.
L. W. King.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Rab?-shakeh (chief-cup-bearer). Notwithstanding its seemingly official significance, it appears to have been used as a proper name, as Butler with us; for the person who bore it was a military chief in high command, under Sennacherib king of Assyria. Yet it is not impossible, according to Oriental usages, that a royal cup-bearer should hold a military command; and the office itself was one of high distinction. He is the last named of three Assyrian generals who appeared before Jerusalem; and was the utterer of the insulting speeches addressed to the besieged. 2Ki_18:17; 2Ki_18:19; 2Ki_18:26; 2Ki_18:28; 2Ki_18:37; 2Ki_19:4; 2Ki_19:8; Isa_36:2; Isa_36:4; Isa_36:12-13; Isa_36:22; Isa_37:4; Isa_37:8.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Rab-shakeh
(Heb. Rabshakeh', רִבְשָׁקֵה; Sept. ῾Ραψᾶκης v. r. ῾Ραβσάκης), an Aramaic name, signifying chief cup-bearer, but applied to an Assyrian general (2Ki_18:17; 2Ki_18:19; 2Ki_18:26; 2Ki_18:28; 2Ki_18:37; 2Ki_19:4; 2Ki_19:8; Isa_36:2; Isa_36:4; Isa_36:12-13; Isa_36:22; Isa_37:4; Isa_37:8). B.C. 713. Notwithstanding its seemingly official significance, it appears to have been used as a proper name, as Butler with us; for the person who bore it was a military chief in high command under Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Yet it is not impossible, according to Oriental usages, that a royal cup-bearer should hold a military command; and the office itself was one of high distinction, in the same way as Rab-saris denotes the chief eunuch, and Rab-mag, possibly, the chief priest. See Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, 2, 440. Luther, in his version, is not quite consistent, sometimes (2Ki_18:17; Isa_36:2) giving Rab- shakeh as a proper name, but ordinarily translating it as a title of office arch-cupbearer (der Erzschenke). The word Rab may be found translated in many places of the English version; for instance, 2Ki_25:8; 2Ki_25:20; Jer_39:11; Dan_2:14 (רִבאּטִבָּחַים), Rab-tabbachin, captain of the guard in the margin, chief marshal, chief of the executioners; Dan_1:3, Rab-sarisin, master of the eunuchs; 2:48 (רִבאּסַגְנַין), Rab-signin, chief of the governors; 4:9; 5:11 (רִבאּחִרטֻמַּין), Rab-chartummin, master of the magicians;' Jon_1:6 (רִב הִחֹבֵל), Rab-hachobel, ship-master. It enters into the titles Rabbi, Rabboni, and the name Rabbah. SEE RABBI.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.