What is the context of verse 5:101-102?

What is the context of 5:101-102 ? > O you who have believed, do not ask about things which, if they are > shown to you, will distress you. But if you ask about them while the > Qur'an is being revealed, they will be shown to you. Allah has > pardoned that which is past; and Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing.A people asked such [questions] before you; then they became thereby disbelievers. A brief *tafseer* says, the *sahabas* were simply asking too many questions. But what type of questions where they asking that if answered would turn them into disbelievers?