Numbers 11

They're on their way to take the promised land when things take a dark turn. People start dying.

At the first sign of complaints, God sends fire around the camp and kills some people in the outskirts. The people beg to Moses who begs to God to stop the fire, which happens. We don't quite know what the initial complaints were, or even if the people who were killed by the fire complained of anything. Perhaps these people wanted to leave or for whatever reason were not fully integrated in the community.

Then the foreigners start complaining about the lack of meat. Soon, the Israelites complain about the lack of meat. Note, they have manna every morning, but this does not impress them. In all fairness, protein is important, so this is a legitimate issue. What is not legitimate is their reaction - "we were better off in Egypt."

This prompts Moses to complain to God. This might be Moses' weak spot actually. God's response is to anoint 70 elders to take on more of Moses' supernatural and administrative duties. Perhaps God had in mind that these 70 people could pray for meat as well. These men feel the presence of God and begin prophesying. It seems to be too much for Joshua who asks that it to be turned off.

After this, God answers their prayers about meat - quail. Hordes of quail come in, the people gorge themselves, and they start dying. I interpret this to mean that they did not follow the rules on bleeding out an animal before eating them.