The dregs for the wicked.
Burder has an interesting note on this verse. "The punishments which Jehovah inflicts upon the wicked are compared to a cupful of fermenting wine, mixed with intoxicating herbs, of which all those to whom it is given must drink the dregs, or sediment. The same image is found, not only frequently in other places of the Old Testament, but also very often in the Arabian poets. Thus Taabbata Scharran, in a passage of an Arabic Anthology, by Albert Schultens: 'To those of the tribe of Hodail, we gave the cup of death, whose dregs were confusion, shame, and reproach.' Another poet says, 'A cup such as they gave us, we gave to them.' When Calif Almansor had his valiant though dreaded general, Abre-Moslem, murdered, he repeated the following verse, in which he addressed the corpse: 'A cup such as he gave, gave I to him, bitterer to the taste than wormwood.'" The point to which attention is directed is that all the contents of the cup God offers to his people have more or less bitterness in them. But the good drink the wine, which is mostly sweet, though in some degree bitter; the wicked drink the dregs, which are almost all bitter, and are intensely bitter. And the added bitterness is that they will be obliged to drink these dregs, whether they wish it or not. Probably reference may be to the dreadful fate of Sennacherib's army, and the humiliation of the general himself; but possibly reference is also intended to the anti-Jehovah party in Israel, who caused so much trouble by their mischievous schemings. A time of bitterest humiliation was before them, when the nation was so gloriously delivered by God.
I. THE MIXED CUP OF A HUMAN LOT. Wine and bitter herbs were in this cup. But the taste of the herbs was only added to the wine, giving it really a tonic value. So the good man's earthly lot is a mixed one. Much that is pleasant; something afflicting, something humbling; but these things only with tonic power. Good men are bettered by the influence on them of the bitter flavour in God's cup.
II. THE DREGS IN THE CUP OF A HUMAN LOT. All the strength of the bitter herbs is kept in the dregs. Nobody would drink them if they were not obliged. The wicked man has to drink them. They represent the "after time" of all wilful, untrustful souls. There is a judgment of wrath meted out to sinners, and given them to endure to the end. Compare St. Paul's figure, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."—R.T.