GEN596 Many years [after the generation of Noah], the generation that built the Tower of Babel was guilty of rebelling against God.  (Rashi). We would think that rebelling against the Almighty Himself would be a far more heinous crime than stealing.  And, yet, Rashi commentary on 11:9 asks why it is that the generation of Noah was destroyed while the generation that built the tower was merely scattered and separated by different languages, as much lesser punishment.  Rashi answers, based on the Midrash Numbers Rabbah 11:7 that while it is true that the sin of rebelling against God was more severe than stealing, the generation that built the tower cared about one another and worked, together in peace, even while committing sin, in building the Tower of Babel.  In that merit of peace, their lives were spared.  This also implies that if people are peaceful to each other, God has hope that they may redeem themselves in the future, although they sin now.  When people steal from one another and are not peaceful, there is no hope for that society and it must be destroyed.  [See also, Genesis 24:3 AMJV 160] AMEMEI 211