Why the Dispersion Generation Survived and the Flood Did Not

Another interpretation of "one language": It is like one who had a wine cellar. He opened the first barrel and found it vinegar, the second and found it vinegar, the third he found vinegar. He said: This is enough, the whole lot is bad. Which of them is harsher: the one who says to the king, either I or you in the palace, or the one who says to the king, I and not you in the palace? You must say it is the one who says, I and not you. So the generation of the flood said, "What is the Almighty that we should serve Him?" (Job 21:15); the generation of the dispersion said, It is not for Him to choose for Himself the upper realms, and so forth. Of those, no remnant was left; but of these, a remnant was left. But the generation of the flood, because they were steeped in robbery, "they remove landmarks, they violently take away flocks and feed them" (Job 24:2), therefore no remnant was left of them; but these, because they loved one another, as it is said, "and the whole earth was of one language," therefore a remnant was left of them. Great is peace, for even if Israel worships idols and there is peace among them, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, cannot rule over them, as it is said, "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone" (Hosea 4:17); but once they are divided, what does it say? "Their heart is divided, now they shall bear their guilt" (Hosea 10:2). "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east" (Genesis 11:2), [meaning] to come to the east.