English: When Rabbi Elazar reached this verse he would weep. He said: If the rebuke of flesh and blood produces the reaction “and his brothers could not answer him, for they were alarmed before him,” how much more so the rebuke of the Holy One, blessed be He.
On the daf / in context: Chagigah records Rabbi Elazar’s emotional reaction to the verse. The midrashic parallels intensify the same point: if Yosef’s brothers could not withstand his rebuke, how much more so when the Holy One rebukes each person according to his deeds.
Type of Learning
Derash on the verse (Bavli / midrash) — not a formal named middah of the 13. The narrative reaction of the brothers is taken as a measure of the force of human rebuke and, a fortiori, of divine rebuke.
What Is Learned
If the brothers could not answer Yosef’s rebuke, how much more will a person be unable to answer when the Holy One rebukes him.