וּמִ֤י מְכַלְכֵּל֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם בּוֹא֔וֹ וּמִ֥י הָעֹמֵ֖ד בְּהֵרָֽאוֹת֑וֹ כִּֽי־הוּא֙ כְּאֵ֣שׁ מְצָרֵ֔ף וּכְבֹרִ֖ית מְכַבְּסִֽים׃
Tetapi siapakah yang dapat menahan hari kedatangannya, dan siapakah yang dapat bertahan ketika ia menampakkan diri? Sebab ia seperti api pemurni logam dan seperti sabun para tukang penatu.
Rabbeinu Bahya
According to Tanchuma Vayigash 5 Joseph said to them: “did you not say: ‘this one’s brother is dead?’ I shall call upon him now and he will come to me.” Thereupon he started calling: “Joseph, son of Yaakov, come to me!.” The brothers looked at each of the four corners of the room and nothing happened. Then Joseph said: “what are you looking for, I am your brother Joseph!” When the brothers heard that they lost consciousness. This is why they could not answer him. Rabbi Yochanan used this experience of Joseph’s brothers to exclaim “woe to us on the day of our death, woe to us when we will be called upon to answer for our sins.” If the brothers were so stricken when they heard Joseph reveal himself to his them, how much more will we be frightened when we stand before G’d to be judged! This is what is meant by the verse in Isaiah 10,3: “What will you do on the day of punishment, when the calamity comes from afar?” Another verse on the same theme is found in Maleachi 3,2: “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears?”