From the Gospel according to Genesis, we can clearly see that God used the details in the life of Joseph to give details that were a compilation of events. The richness of details that filled and surrounded the life of Jesus Christ is a complete and intricate picture drawn in the Old Testament and comes into a panoramic view in the New Testament in all its wonder.
God used the life of Joseph and events that shaped his life as a broad brush to reveal a depth for future events. What we see as possible insignificant details that are given in the Old Testament in the life of Joseph, may not be insignificance at all, but have deeper implications and depth that are not apparent and are hidden under a veil. It is up to us to open our eyes to the richness and dig out the nuggets and grab these to get a fuller view of their significance as a whole picture comes into view.
It is important to inspect carefully the things that occurred in Joseph’s life, and the decisions that he made because these can have larger implications that unfold and are fulfilled in the New Testament in Christ’s life that occurred hundreds of years after Joseph gave the template for the events.
The Old Testament draws two sets of circumstances of two different types of people who would be involved and guilty of ripping off the garments of Christ. The brothers of Joseph took the coat of many colors and smeared blood on his coat, (Genesis 37:31) and presented it to their father Jacob and the woman, Potiphar’s Wife (Genesis 39:12) that grabbed Joseph’s coat ripping it from him as he fled from her presence, causing him to be buried in the depths of imprisonment.
Both circumstances become future details and they draw a fuller picture in the life of Christ with those involved in this act. Two different types of people are involved in this act and the very thing occurs in the life of Christ where Jesus is rejected by his own people Israel and Rome crucifies him.
Both groups are guilty of false charges and ripping off his garments and causing his death.
While Joseph is imprisoned based on false charges, two men are imprisoned with him and one is raised up to become a cup-bearer, which is significant since Joseph is a type of Christ experiencing circumstances relating to Christ’s passion. As a cup-bearer in prison with Joseph, the criminal is raised up and becomes an analogy for the thief who is the first to die under the cup of the new covenant in Christ’s atoning blood and gains paradise.
Joseph rose symbolically from his grave and became second only to Pharaoh. This is a type of Christ’s kingdom (not on earth) but as he sits at the right hand of God the Father.
It is during the 7 years of famine that the brothers go into Egypt to buy grain, and they bow down to Joseph not recognizing that he is their own brother. This symbolism has shades of the 7-year tribulation period pertaining to the famine in the land as Joseph rules over Gentiles and has a Gentile bride while his own people do not recognize him and this has future implications as his own people are saved during the famine period.
The Cup
While the brothers go back into Egypt to buy grain the second time taking Benjamin with them, Joseph ends up storing a cup in Benjamin’s bag, as the brothers are returning back to their father Jacob.
Joseph has their journey interrupted and claims his cup is has been taken and whoever has the cup in his bag that person will be the servant of Joseph for the rest of his life. We already see the significance of the cup in the fact that while Joseph was in the pit, one man is spared to become a cup-bearer
Since Joseph is a type of the Messiah any cup that pertains to him is significant since Christ came and gave the cup of the new covenant and those in Christ, serve him the rest of their lives, just as Benjamin was to spend the rest of his life as a servant to Joseph since the cup was found in his bag.
One question I’ve never seen anyone ask is if Benjamin was to serve Joseph the rest of his life due to the cup being found in his bag, then why do we not see anything after the incident of him actually serving Joseph?
The whole incident is dropped and nothing else is mentioned about the subject and that is a problem. Benjamin has to be a servant because it is written in the scripture that he will serve, just as the cup-bearer is serving that was raised from his imprisonment.
The whole point in the story seems to have far more significance than Joseph getting his brother’s attention and revealing his identity so they would come to repentance. Although repentance is a huge part of the story and very important for the brothers to repent of actions made against their brother, there seems to be a missing ingredient to the story.
Can there be more to it than we actually realize with this cup since the criminal imprisoned with Joseph rose to become a cup-bearer saved to serve and Joseph who was a type of the Messiah, is slipping the cup in the bag of Benjamin who is also to serve?
We know that Joseph was a Godly man chosen by God to be in a unique position and God used him in amazing ways to foreshadow the promised Messiah. The details that contrast their lives are not haphazard coincidences. The cup of Joseph in the Old Testament is described as a cup of divination and we know that Joseph would not have been involved in that practice, although the Egyptians most likely were.
Joseph did not practice divination to foretell future events but what he was pointing out is the significance of the cup being a future important aspect that would become fulfilled at a future date that would pertain to Benjamin.
To describe the cup in Genesis 44:5 as a cup of divination is cringe-worthy and a red flag moment due to the Bible condemning divination. It would seem to be a massive contradiction. Divination comes from the natural man that is looking into future things that are not given to him by God through inspiration. Joseph was not that man, Joseph’s whole life was set apart to become a type of the Messiah.
We have to understand the perspective of the story and understand that from the point of view of Joseph’s brothers, Joseph was believed to be an Egyptian (not a brother or the son of Jacob) Joseph was second in command over all of Egypt and believed to be an Egyptian and divination was practiced, so it’s labeled in the Bible text as such, the cup would be called exactly that if it has future cogitations from the perspective of an Egyptian, but the cup is far more, because Joseph is a type of the Messiah, and the cup would bear a future that is significant.
The fact that the cup is labeled as a cup with future ramifications should not be lost, it’s a cup that has a future because it was labeled as such, but it is not from the natural man and divination foretelling a future event, but labeled a larger more significant cup that comes through inspiration by God, pertaining to the tribe of Benjamin who will serve Joseph (a type of the Messiah)
At some point in the New Testament, these details would bear fruit and we would find that the tribe of Benjamin really did have a cup passed to the tribe and the text is inspired through and through and found fulfillment.
That is exactly what we find in the New Testament. The cup of the New Covenant is in Christ’s blood and was passed to the tribe of Benjamin.
The Apostle Paul and many of the Apostles are from the tribe of Benjamin.