Yosef resists the instinctive tendency to take full credit for his achievement, announcing to Pharaoh, “It is not me.” And for this self-effacing humility he is rewarded with power and kingship.
Parashat Miketz tells of Pharaoh’s peculiar dreams and his quest to find a satisfying interpretation. The cupbearer recalls the successful interpretation that Yosef had suggested to the dream he dreamt while in prison, and Pharaoh thus calls for Yosef to come interpret his dream.
When Yosef comes before Pharaoh, the king says to him, “I have dreamt a dream, but there is nobody who can interpret it, and I have heard about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it” (41:15).
Yosef replies, “It is not me; God shall answer to Pharaoh’s satisfaction” (41:16).
The Midrash (Tanchuma 3; see also Bereishit Rabba 89:9) viewed Yosef’s response as reflecting his extraordinary humility: “He attributed the greatness to its Master. The Almighty said: You did not want to boast about yourself – I swear that for this you will rise to greatness and kingship!”
Yosef here attributed his talents to God, to their “Master.” He understood – and expressed such to the Egyptian monarch – that human achievement must be credited to the Almighty. While achievement certainly depends also on human effort, those efforts are insufficient to yield the desired result. Ultimately, one cannot achieve anything without God’s assistance.
As Moshe admonishes Benei Yisrael in advance of their entry into Eretz Yisrael, where they would till the land, build homes and amass wealth, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the capability to achieve wealth” (Devarim 8:18). Yosef resists the instinctive tendency to take full credit for his achievement, announcing to Pharaoh, “It is not me.” And for this self-effacing humility he is rewarded with power and kingship.
Rav Avraham Pam (in Rav Pam on Chumash) drew a parallel between Yosef’s remark to Pharaoh and the response of the Chashmonaim to the events of Chanukah. Although they had achieved a remarkable and unlikely victory, they made a point of downplaying their role and underscoring God’s intervention.
This likely explains what otherwise would appear as the disproportionate emphasis placed on the miracle of the oil, which might seem, at first glance, to have been far less consequential and noteworthy than the stunning victory of the Chashmonaim. In their effort to shift the credit from themselves to the Almighty, the religious leaders of the time drew the people’s attention toward the miracle of the oil, which clearly signified the hand of God and demonstrated that it was He who had enabled the Chasmona’im to prevail. They, like Yosef, refused to pride themselves for their accomplishments, and instead recognized God’s intervention through which their success was achieved.