Deuteronomy 1:10

“The Lord your God hath multiplied you, etc.] Which was the reason why he could not bear them, or the government of them was too heavy for him, because they were so numerous, and the cases brought before him to decide were so many: and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude; whereby it appeared that the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, (<011505>Genesis 15:5), they were now 600,000 men fit for war, besides women and children, and those under age, which must make the number of them very large.”

“ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude--This was neither an Oriental hyperbole nor a mere empty boast. Abraham was told (Gen 15:5-6) to look to the stars, and though they "appear" innumerable, yet those seen by the naked eye amount, in reality, to no more than three thousand ten in both hemispheres. The Israelites already far exceeded that number, being at the last census above six hundred thousand [Num 26:51]. It was a seasonable memento, calculated to animate their faith in the accomplishment of other parts of the divine promise.”

“This appointment of the “captains” (compare Exodus 18:21 ff) must not be confounded with that of the elders in Numbers 11:16 ff. The former would number 78,600; the latter were 70 only. A comparison between this passage and that in Exodus makes it obvious that Moses is only touching on certain parts of the whole history, without regard to order of time, but with a special purpose. This important arrangement for the good government of the people took place before they left Horeb to march direct to the promised land. This fact sets more clearly before us the perverseness and ingratitude of the people, to which the orator next passes; and shows, what he was anxious to impress, that the fault of…”

“1:10 as numerous as the stars: This figure of speech deliberately exaggerates for effect. Abraham’s descendants had not approached the actual number of stars in the universe, though they exceeded the number of stars visible to the naked eye. Moses meant that God had begun fulfilling his promises to Abraham (see Gen 15:5; 22:17) by making Israel numerous, bringing them to the Promised Land, and preparing them to conquer it.”

“your God: Deu 10:22, Deu 28:62; Gen 15:5, Gen 22:17, Gen 28:14; Exo 12:37, Exo 32:13; Num 1:46; Ch1 27:23; Neh 9:23 ye are this day: This was the promise made by God to Abraham ( Gen 15:5, Gen 15:6), which Moses considers now as amply fulfilled. Many suppose the expression to be hyperbolical; and others, no friends to revelation, think it a vain, empty boast, because the stars, in their apprehension, amount to innumerable millions. But, as this refers to the number of stars that appear to the naked eye, which only amount to about 3,010 in both hemispheres, the number of the Israelites far exceeded this; for independently of women and children, at the last census, they amounted to more than…”