Joseph plants the cup inside the bag of Benjamin as a test to the rest of his brothers. In the loss of Joseph, his maternal brother Benjamin, took on the full adoration of their father prizing the youngest born once more. Joseph who notices his brother’s absence concludes that his father has passed on this protection. The brothers would seemingly have the same level of resentment for Benjamin, the one who inherited their father’s love. That is why Joseph puts them in the same predicament that they were in twenty years prior: either desert a brother or act as one. Yet, reminded of the sin that launched their father into such dismay, Judah steps in. He offers himself up in the place of Benjamin, an act of selfless giving. Judah takes on the role of their father. It is in this act that Joseph begins to “weep” at the rekindling of his family.
Joseph holds no resentment towards his brothers, he merely forgives as “it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” Similar to the other patriarchs in Genesis, Joseph is resurrected out of God’s divine will. Joseph was the elected; a choice not following along the traditional birth order. Joseph himself was astonished when Jacob, blind (similarly to Issac), asks to bless Ephraim alongside Manasseh “crossing his hands.” But just as Joseph was elected as the “son of his father’s old age,” and seemingly divine intervention, there comes a cost. As Anderson writes, “Joseph must die as a result of such favor.” God does not bestow his favor on everyone, as not everyone could endure the cost. Their destinies are god-willing; often placing them into either mental or physical isolation. That is how God resurrects them through their sacrifice.
Kathleen's Theology Blog 