[Avodah] Questions on Parshat Noach

[Liron Kopinsky]

2 questions I had on Parshat Noach:

Question 1:
The Gemarrah in Brachot 61A says that adam was created last in creation but
first for puranot, as it says (Gen 7:23)

וַיִּמַח אֶת-כָּל-הַיְקוּם אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה, מֵאָדָם
עַד-בְּהֵמָה עַד-רֶמֶשׂ וְעַד-עוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם...
And He blotted out every living substance which was upon the face of the
ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping thing, and fowl of the heaven...

We see from the fact that it mentioned man first, that man therefore was
punished first.

Just 2 pesukim earlier it says:

וַיִּגְוַע כָּל-בָּשָׂר הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, בָּעוֹף וּבַבְּהֵמָה
וּבַחַיָּה, וּבְכָל-הַשֶּׁרֶץ, הַשֹּׁרֵץ עַל-הָאָרֶץ--וְכֹל, הָאָדָם.
And all flesh perished that moved upon the earth, both fowl, and cattle,
and beast, and every swarming thing that swarmeth upon the earth, and every
man;

Here, man is quoted last.

1a) Why is the order switched in these 2 pesukim?
1b) Why does the gemarrah seem to ignore the first pasuk when drawing its
lesson about who was first in receiving punishment?

Question 2:
The standard answer to the question "Why was the dor hamabul punished so
much more than the dor hapalaga, even though the dor hamabul were (only)
sinning bein adam l'chaveiro but the dor hapalaga were waging war against
Hashem?" is that the dor hapalaga were all united together, and even though
they had bad motives, that unity was a big positive in their favor.

If this is true, then why was the sin of the meraglim - where all of Bnei
Yisrael were united in their sin - punished worse than the sin of the egel
hazahav - where there was opposition and most people were not involved?
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