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The change in atmosphere between the end of ch. 10 and the beginning of ch. 11 is as great as the difference between day and night. Everything in 1:1-10:36 paints a positive picture of the relationship between God and his people. On the other hand, most of the material in 11:1ff. is replete with accounts of rebellions by Israel followed by divine judgment. The shattering abruptness in the break of the narrative flow between 10:36 and 11:1 matches the shattering abruptness of the break in the relationship between God and Israel.
Two incidents are highlighted in ch. 11. In the first (vv.1-3) the people complained about their hardships. The divine response was to send a consuming fire on the outskirts of the camp; hence the name for this site, Taberah, i.e., “Burning.” The second account (vv.4-35) recalls the craving both of the rabble (i.e., non-Israelites) and of the Israelites for more variety in the food. The wailing of the people even got to Moses (vv.10-15). God sent the people bountiful amounts of quail, but while the meat was still between their teeth (v.33), he sent a devastating plague among them as well. This site was given the symbolic name Kibroth-Hattaavah, i.e., “Graves of Craving.”
One wonders why the people escaped judgment when earlier they committed exactly the same sin of murmuring and wanting to go back to Egypt (see Ex 16). On that occasion God gave them manna but no plague. Here he gave them quail plus a plague. The answer may lie in the fact that Ex 16 describes a pre-Sinai, precovenant sin (for which the consequences are lesser). Nu 11 describes a post-Sinai, postcovenant sin (for which the consequences are greater).