אבן עזרא — יחי ראובן ואל ימת ויהי מתיו מספר

Q — Moshe's bracha to Re'uven reads: "יחי ראובן ואל ימת ויהי מתיו מספר." The first two clauses are positive — let him live, let him not die. But "ויהי מתיו מספר" reads naturally as "let his people be *few*" — since Ibn Ezra holds "כל דבר שיספר הוא מעט" (anything that can be counted is small). How can a blessing end with "let his population be small"?

A — Ibn Ezra resolves it with one of his most famous peshat tools: "מושך עצמו ואחר עמו" — a word (or letter) appearing once governs both the clause it sits in *and* the next clause. The negation "ואל" in "ואל ימת" extends forward — "יחי ראובן ואל ימת ו[אל] יהי מתיו מספר": let him live, let him not die, and let his people *not* be few. The negative does double duty across two verbs. Ibn Ezra catalogs many parallels in his commentaries — including (1) the unforgettable "ולא למדתי חכמה ודעת קדושים אדע" (Mishlei 30:3): "ולא" governs both clauses — "I did not learn wisdom and I do not know holy knowledge" (not: "I know holy knowledge"). (2) The famous "וארא אל אברהם... באל שדי ושמי ה' לא נודעתי להם" (Shemot 6:3): the bet of "באל שדי" carries through — "I appeared in El Shaddai *and in My Name Hashem* I was not known." (3) "לא תפרעו ולא תפרמו ולא תמותו ועל כל העדה יקצוף" (Vayikra 10:6): the "ולא" carries forward — "and *not* on the whole community will He be angry." This Reuven verse is the textbook case of the principle. R. Aharon HaKohen Sarjado (Rav Hai Gaon's rebbe) read "ויהי מתיו מספר" literally as "let his men be numerous" — taking "מספר" to mean "large number" — but Ibn Ezra rejects that: counting always implies smallness. The "מושך עצמו" principle is the only path that keeps the verse a bracha while preserving the lexical meaning.