A.S. Yahuda, Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian [1933], Vol. 1, [1933], 63 That the metaphorical use of 'lip' שפה for 'shore', as e.g. שפת היאור Gen 41, 3; Ex. 2, 3. 7, 15. 'bank of the River Nile' or 'shore of the sea' as in Ex 14, 30, &c. was current also in Egyptian at all times has long been established as e.g. by Ebers, Die Bücher Moses, p. 339. The Egyptians spoke of 'the lip of the water' for the bank of the RIver Nile, thus e.g. Lebensmüde, xv, l. 66 f., p. 42, of the fish 'on the lip of the water' śp.t n mw, on the bank of the Nile.
A.S. Yahuda, Language of the Pentateuch in its Relation to Egyptian [1933], Vol. 1, [1933], 63 #3 Here as elsewhere the Nile is simply called mw 'water', exactly like המימ 'the water' in the Exodus narrative, e.g. 2, 10. 7, 15. 8, 16. Unlike other passages where the word is used in the general sense of water it here specifically refers to the Nile.
, [], Thursday, January 22, 2004 Va`era #2: Why was Pharoah in de Nile?
In Shemot 7:14-15, Moshe is told to go to the Nile, for Pharoah is there. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, כָּבֵד לֵב פַּרְעֹה; מֵאֵן, לְשַׁלַּח הָעָם.
לֵךְ
אֶל-פַּרְעֹה בַּבֹּקֶר, הִנֵּה יֹצֵא הַמַּיְמָה, וְנִצַּבְתָּ
לִקְרָאתוֹ, עַל-שְׂפַת הַיְאֹר; וְהַמַּטֶּה אֲשֶׁר-נֶהְפַּךְ לְנָחָשׁ,
תִּקַּח בְּיָדֶךָ. "And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Pharaoh's heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. Get
thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and
thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him; and the rod which
was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand." Rashi
cited Shemot Rabba that the reason Pharoah went to the water was to go
to the bathroom. Pharoah claimed to be a god, who did not need to go to
the bathroom, and he would awake early to go to the Nile and there he
would go to the bathroom. I saw the derivation in Tg Yonatan. In a later pasuk, 7:23, at the end of the encounter: וַיִּפֶן פַּרְעֹה, וַיָּבֹא אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ; וְלֹא-שָׁת לִבּוֹ, גַּם-לָזֹאת. "And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart." Tg
Yonatan translates וַיִּפֶן פַּרְעֹה as "Pharoah took care of his
needs," that is he went to the bathroom. He does not connect this to an
attempt to appear as a deity. However, one could possibly make the
derivation that he took care of his needs here and only then returned
to his house, implying that he did not take care of his needs in his
house.
Even so, Tg Yonatan gives a different reason for Pharoah
going to the Nile by the first pasuk I cited. He claims it was to do
ksamim (magics) upon it. This is actually somewhat supported by the
narrative. for after Moshe and Aharon turn the Nile into blood, the
magicians do likewise, at which point Pharoah hardens his heart and
does not listen to Moshe and Aharon. What are the magicians doing
there? It makes sense if he went with them to do magic on the Nile, but
less so if he is trying to quietly relieve himself so that no one will
know.