1. In comparing the multitude that Israel has now become as "many as the stars in the sky," Moses was quoting verbatim Yahweh's earlier promises to Abraham, and repeated to Isaac, to "make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky" (Gen 22:17 & 26:4). These were the very same words Moses had cited when, in pleading with Yahweh to forgive Israel for their sin of the golden calf, he had called on Yahweh to "remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever'" (Exo 32:13).