[Avodah] Sparing One of Losing a Loved One

[Richard Wolberg]

R' Micha wrote:  An earlier example is when Hashem saved Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom. There too Lot was saved primarily in Avraham's merit, that Avraham should be spared the pain of losing his nephew.

If the above is true -- that God saved Lot in order that Avraham should be spared the pain of losing his nephew, it seems pretty paradoxical that God would not have spared Aharon the pain of losing his two sons. Obviously it the 
merit of Moshe could have been legitimate and certainly Aharon was greater than Lot. This logic does not hold.

R' Micha also wrote: ...we are told not to gaze at a rainbow because it's a sign of Divine Anger, that G-d is telling us that it's only his promise to Noach that keeps Him from again flooding the world. (Chagiga 16a)
I have always been bothered by the rationality of this promise for two reasons: First, there are at least a dozen other means of destroying the world. So what's the greatness of not destroying mankind with water.
Frankly, I'd rather die by drowning than by fire. The second thing is: Does it bring any comfort to all those people who have been devastated by floods (such as what just happened in Mississippi) to tell them that
not to worry -- it's just them and their families that will be destroyed by flooding but not the whole world?
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