Joseph’s planting of the silver cup, I believe stems from the original situation when his brothers sold him into slavery. He obviously cares for his brother Benjamin as described throughout Genesis 37-50 like when “Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s.” So why then did Joseph plant the cup in Benjamin’s sack? It seems as if Joseph intended this move as a means for determining if his brothers had changed. If they had not changed, surely they would leave Benjamin as a slave to Joseph, just as they had sold Joseph as a slave to the Egyptians. However, as it so happens, Joseph’s brothers expressed remorse and Judah professed “please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.” The willingness and desire to preserve their brother showed Joseph that they had changed from the boys they used to be. They passed the test.
This situation closely parallels that of Joseph himself. Both Joseph and Benjamin held the status as the beloved son of Israel. When first confronted with the situation, the brothers responded by selling Joseph into slavery. However, when presented with a similar situation several years later, the brothers did not choose to let their youngest and the favorite son of Israel go into slavery. Anderson brings in an interesting connection in his essay between the story of Joseph and that of Isaac. Both were the “beloved son” and had to ‘die’ in a sense of the word. The sending of Benjamin is paramount to the ‘sacrificing’ of Isaac. Thus, again and again we see a theme of death and resurrection as both are thought to be dead and then are miraculously returned or spared. Jacob though Joseph dead from an animal and believed his son Benjamin never to return again. These themes recur over and over establishing the connection and cycle of sin and forgiveness, division and reunion.
Saquilan Theology 