Num 11:31 Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague. Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
God performed his promise to the people, in giving them flesh. How much more diligent men are in collecting the meat that perishes, than in labouring for meat which endures to everlasting life! We are quick-sighted in the affairs of time; but stupidity blinds us as to the concerns of eternity. To pursue worldly advantages, we need no arguments; but when we are to secure the true riches, then we are all forgetfulness. Those who are under the power of a carnal mind, will have their lusts fulfilled, though it be to the certain damage and ruin of their precious souls. They paid dearly for their feasts. God often grants the desires of sinners in wrath, while he denies the desires of his own people in love. What we unduly desire, if we obtain it, we have reason to fear, will be some way or other a grief and cross to us. And what multitudes there are in all places, who shorten their lives by excess of one kind or other! Let us seek for those pleasures which satisfy, but never surfeit; and which will endure for evermore. (Henry)
Whatever form the plague may have taken, it was as clearly supernatural in its suddenness and intensity as the supply of quails itself. We do not know anything as to who were smitten, or how many; the Psalmist tells us that they were “the fattest” and “the chosen in Israel, and we may naturally suppose that those who had been foremost in the lusting and the murmuring were foremost in the ruin which followed. (Unknown)
“There are times when God grants an unwarranted request in order that men may learn through experience the folly of their desires.” (Morgan)
This was a strict judgment, but it was a help to Israel because it taught them to not be ruled by their desires. If the lesson was learned, it was a huge help to the nation. To inherit the land of Canaan – God’s Promised Land for Israel – they had to be ruled by more than their physical or emotional appetites. When we allow ungodly cravings to rule our lives, God may send what we crave. Better to have a well-fed soul and to be deprived ungodly cravings. (Guzik)
This is hard for me to understand. God gave them their craving and then along with this, a plague that killed them. Let our cravings be for things of God, the Word of God, and the understanding, wisdom, and knowledge of our sin that we might repent of it and grow in our understanding of His grace, mercy, and love.