English: “Into the Nile you shall cast him” — Pharaoh’s astrologers saw that the redeemer of Israel would be struck through water; they arose and decreed that every son born should be cast into the Nile. Once Moshe was thrown in, they said, “We no longer see that sign,” and they annulled their decree — but they did not know that he would be struck at the waters of Merivah.
On the daf / in context: See the cited source for the full section.
Type of Learning
Custom — historical etiology of the Nile decree.
What Is Learned
Chazal teach that the decree of drowning was prompted by a partial vision of the redeemer’s future connection to water, a vision that was misread both in timing and in location.