The Israelites, Balaam, and me- Pt1

The Israelites were getting discontent. Their Father God was fulfilling a promise to their ancestor Abraham by freeing them from slavery and making them a nation of their own in a territory he had chosen for them centuries before (Gen 15:2-16). He had freed them in His signature inimitable fashion causing the world superpower, Egypt their former oppressors, to finance the establishment of their nation. After making them wealthy, He was caring for their needs in this interim period before they received their own territory. However, God's provision became to them unsatisfactory. It was too plain and had become too common. They longed for the variety of tasty food they had in Egypt:

"...If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at not cost- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite: we never see anything but this manna!"(Numbers 11:4-6)

Father God allowed them the thing that they desired, He gave them meat:

"Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction." (v. 31)

However, this meat was like poison for them:

"But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consume, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague." (v. 33)

This has been a passage that has always puzzled me. Why would God give them something that He knew would hurt them? Even more than that, He gave them something that he would strike them for receiving. That hardly seems fair, just, or even comprehensible. Why would God be so impulsive and irrational? Frankly, I'm afraid of a God who poisons people.