They began to seek a pretext to renounce God and again to be addicted to idolatry.

Psalms 78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

Psalms 78:58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand.

62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

66 And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

69 And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

70 He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

71 From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

Hardly had they departed from Sinai when they once more began
to lead the wicked course of life that they had for a time
abandoned. They began to seek a pretext to renounce God and
again to be addicted to idolatry. [458] They complained about the
forced marches which at God's command they had been obliged to
make after their departure from Sinai, and in this way showed their
ingratitude to God who wanted them as quickly as possible to
reach the Holy Land, and for this reason allowed them to cover an
eleven days' distance in three days. [459] Their murmurs and
complaints, however, were not silent, but quite loud, for they were
anxious that God should hear their wicked words. In punishment
for their defamation of the Divine glory, God sent upon them a fire
emanating from the very glory.
Upon twelve occasions did God send a Divine fire upon earth, six
times as a token of honor and distinction, but as many times as a
punishment. To the first class belong the fire at the consecration of
the Tabernacle, at the offering of Gideon as at that of Manoah and
of David; at the dedication of Solomon's Temple, and at the
offering of Elijah upon Mount Carmel. The six fatal fires are the
following: the fire that consumed Nadab and Abihu; that which
wrought havoc among the murmuring and complaining multitude;
the fire that consumed the company of Korah; the fire that
destroyed Job's sheep, and the two fires that burned the first and
second troops which Ahaziah sent against Elijah.
This celestial fire wrought the greatest havoc among the idolatrous
tribe of Dan, and among the mixed multitude that had joined the
Israelites upon their exodus from Egypt. [462] The elders of the
people turned to Moses, saying: "Rather deliver us as a sheep to
the slaughter, but not to a celestial fire that consumes earthly fire."
[463] They should by right have prayed to God themselves, but in
this instance they were like the king's son who had kindled his
father's anger against him, and who not hastened to his father's
friend, begging him to intercede for him. So did Israel say to
Moses: "Go thou to God and pray for us." Moses instantly granted
their wish, and God without delay heard Moses' prayer and halted
the destroying fire. [464] But God did not simply take the fire
away from Israel and put it elsewhere, for it was of such a nature
that it would gradually have spread on all sides and finally have
destroyed everything. It had in this way caused the destruction in
Israel, for, beginning at one end of the camp, it spread so rapidly
that one could at not time tell how far it had gone. That the
presence of this Divine fire might continue to restrain Israel from
sin, God did not allow it to rise back to heaven, but it found its
place on the altar of the Tabernacle, where it consumed all the
offerings that were brought during Israel's stay in Egypt. This is the
same fire that destroyed Aaron's sons as well as Korah's company,
and it is the Divine fire that every mortal beholds in the moment of
his death. [465]
On this occasion also it was evident that pious men are greater
than the angels, for Moses took bundles of wool and laid them
upon the Divine fire, which thereupon went out. [466] He then said
to the people: "If you repent of your sin, then the fire will go out,
but otherwise it will burst forth and consume you.

PROPHECY OF THE DIVINE FIRE