Soon the people began to complain … fire from the LORD blazed: The link between Israel’s complaints and God’s punishment is a major theme in Numbers and throughout the Old Testament (for example, Deuteronomy 9:22; Psalm 78). God is holy and just, and he demands obedience from his people. Complaints are the same as rejecting him (compare Numbers 11:20).
their hardship: Mount Sinai had been a stable home for a year. The journey to Paran brought heat, thirst, and fatigue.
consumed the outskirts of the camp: Compare Leviticus 10:2.