[2:61] And when you said, 'Moses, we will not endure one sort of food; pray to your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth produces - green herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, onions'; He said, 'Would you exchange what is better with what is lowlier?' 'Go down to a city, you shall have what you demanded'; And abasement, and wretchedness were cast upon them, and they incurred God's wrath; that was because they used to disbelieve the signs of God and slay prophets without right; that was because they disobeyed, and they were transgressors.
They were not content with the goodness of His choosing for them, nor were they patient in His managing what He was intending for them in basic food and clothing. In their confusion, they fell back to their customary behavior in eating contemptible food and being content with a lower state, so He returned them to the suffering of ignominy (muqāsāt al-hawān) and bound them to perpetual disappointment (idāmat al-khidhlān). They went so far as to shed the blood of prophets and violated the sanctity of the affair with their lack of shame. They did not repent, so He punished them for their ugly acts (qabīh fiʿālihim) and returned them to what He had chosen for their souls in their contemptible states (khasāÌis aḥwālihim). When sincere counsel (naṣīḥa) did not succeed with them, retribution and humiliation (fa?īḥa) overtook them.
It is said the Children of Israel were divided in their aspirations, scattered in their objectives. They were not content to have just one food for themselves, nor were they satisfied with one object of worship in their religion, to the point where they said to Moses (ʿa), when they saw people worshiping idols, 'O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods' [7:138]. This is the attribute of the people of separation. Patience with the One (al-wāḥid) is hard. God Most High said, 'And when you mention the Lord alone (waḥdahu) in the QurÌān, they turn their backs in aversion' [17:46].