Feb 6

As Anderson explained in the article, Joseph planted the silver cup in Benjamin’s bag to determine if his brothers had truly changed.  By planting the cup and threatening to imprison Benjamin, Joseph is replicating the situation his brothers put him in years earlier.  Once again, their father’s beloved son will be taken away from him and will no longer be with the family.  Just like Joseph was wrongly imprisoned because of the incident with his master’s wife, Benjamin will be imprisoned for a crime he did not commit but has no way to disprove.  By replicated Joseph’s situation years ago with Benjamin, Joseph is offering his brothers a chance to show that they have changed.  When faced with an opportunity to easily rid themselves of Benjamin, yet another younger brother who once again has a monopoly on their father’s favor, they do not take it like they did with Joseph years ago.  Instead, through Judah’s actions, they show that they have changed. Instead of giving Benjamin up, Judah, who was a key player in the selling of Joseph into slavery, offers to give himself up instead of his younger brother, because Judah know that if Benjamin is imprisoned Jacob will never recover.  Through the planting of the silver cup, Joseph facilitates the death and resurrection of his brothers, as he makes them fully repent from their previous actions and prove that they have resurrected and changed for the better.

This incident relates to his status and the beloved son, because having the status of “beloved son” means that you must go through a death and resurrection.  As Anderson outlines, earlier in the story Joseph went through his “death” in multiple ways, including when his brothers faked his death and when he spent many years in jail. However, he was resurrected to a place of power in Egypt and is eventually revealed as alive to Jacob. The planning of the silver cup is Benjamin’s “death and resurrection” as Jacob’s new beloved son.  Just as Joseph was lost to his father, Benjamin is almost lost in a very similar way, coming close to going through a very similar death as Joseph.  However, Benjamin is saved and resurrected by his many other brothers, especially Judah, and completes the cycle of “death and resurrection” that every beloved son goes through.