Albert Barnes
This and the following three chapters recount the successive rebellions of the Israelites after their departure from Sinai; culminating in that by which they brought upon themselves the sentence of personal exclusion from the land of promise.
See the marginal rendering. They murmured against the privations of the march.
The fire of the Lord - Probably lightning; compare Psalms 78:21.
In the uttermost parts - Rather, in the end. The fire did not reach far into the camp. It was quickly quenched at the intercession of Moses.
Taberah - i. e. “burning:” not the name of a station, and accordingly not found in the list given in Numbers 33:0, but the name of the spot where the fire broke out. This incident might seem (compare Numbers 11:34) to have occurred at the station called, from another still more terrible event which shortly followed, Kibroth-hattaavah.
(Kibroth-hattaavah has been identified by Palmer with the extensive remains, graves, etc., at Erweis El Ebeirig, and Hazeroth “enclosures” with Ain Hadherah.)