Adam Clarke on Numbers 1:33

The tribe of Ephraim - forty thousand and five hundred - Ephraim, as he was blessed beyond his eldest brother Manasseh, Gen 48:20, so here he is increased by thousands more than Manasseh, and more than the whole tribe of Benjamin, and his blessing continued above his brother, Deu 33:17. And thus the prophecy, Gen 48:19, was fulfilled: His younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, (Manasseh). No word of God can possibly fall to the ground: he alone sees the end from the beginning; his infinite wisdom embraces all occurrences, and it is his province alone to determine what is right, and to predict what himself has purposed to accomplish.