Vayigash begins with the sons of Yaakov about to go to war against the highest ranking official in all of Egypt, having no idea this official is their long lost brother, Yosef. Yehudah steps up to confront Yosef over the freedom of the youngest son Binyamin. Yosef reaches an emotional breaking point and can no longer hide his identity. In a startling reveal he declares, “I am Yosef” and the brothers are rendered speechless with embarrassment.

Yosef sent them through a complex series of tests which should have given away his true identity, but the brothers were too closed minded to see what was obvious. But now, they all suddenly understood the purpose of the last 22 years since they sold their brother. It all made sense within the context of Hashem’s plan.

Several commentators (Midrash: Bereishis Rabbah 93:10, the Chafetz Chaim) connect the Yosef revelation to the ultimate revelation by Hashem in the end of days. The world over will experience “I AM HASHEM” and in that moment, everyone will understand history, purpose, and how Hashem was behind it all for the ultimate good. But at the same time, everyone will experience shame in realizing that all excuses we made to ourselves to not do more with our lives were all fabricated. Hashem will call us out on those excuses and we will be speechless to defend ourselves just as the brothers were left speechless in front of Yosef.

But I think there’s a more uplifting and even more powerful message of this ultimate revelation.

Yosef did not reveal himself to embarrass his brothers. His revelation turned several dire concerns: being in trouble with a law, the safety of a brother, the belief of having lost another brother, and of course the scarcity of food during a widespread famine – and in an instant showed all those problems had already been solved. They thought they were under arrest when, in fact, they were being made honored guests. What a switcheroo!

How does this positive perspective on “I am Yosef” relate to God’s reveal of “I AM HASHEM” in the end of days? According to the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni) “Just as Joseph stored food from the years of plenty as provisions for the period of famine, so may Hashem store up blessings for us from this world to enjoy in the world to come.” After Hashem’s revelation, regardless of our embarrassment, we will be provided with plentiful blessings to enjoy. But where do these blessings come from? Presumably from our mitzvahs and good deeds. But if we’ve shrugged off the mitzvahs (Heaven forbid) such as the previous interpretation implies, (i.e. we made excuses to shirk our responsibilities) what blessings will we have? Will we have any at all?

Looking back at the story, the brothers were rendered speechless from their embarrassment of having sold Yosef. But it was that very act that set up Yosef for prominence, power, and the ability to provide for them. They brothers sold Yosef not because they were trying to do evil, but because they were convinced Yosef was wicked like Esav. They were trying to do good but messed up. This is the important lesson. Though we may fail at doing mitzvahs the “right” way or even for the right reasons, we don’t know what good will come from even the slightest action.

“Just as Joseph provided for each according to his deeds, so may Hashem sustain us according to our deed.” Rabbi Menachem said in the name of Rabbi Abin: “Just as Joseph’s brothers acted badly towards him, but he repaid them with good, so we act badly towards You [Hashem] — and may You bestow good on us in return.” – Midrash

“Even the sinners of Israel are as full of good deeds as a pomegranate (with seeds).” – Eruvin 19A

So when we finally experience the ultimate revelation of “I AM HASHEM,” though we will be silenced with the knowledge we could have done so much more, we will also be silenced with the knowledge of how much we actually did and how widespread that good profoundly brought blessing to the world. That’s the blessing that will sustain us in the World to Come.