i.e. Suddenly, rather than to die such a lingering and painful death. Their sin was much greater than their parents in like case, because they should have taken warning by their miscarriages, and by the terrible effects of them, which their eyes had seen.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 20:3
Numbers 20:3
3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!