joe, i agree with you that all israel will be preserved. this is what i was saying, altho i might've been unclear: that even tho all israel will be preserved, some israelites will have no reward in their preservation. i'm also agreeing that this is why god chose abraham: becuz he was godfearing, and believed in god absolutely, altho i thought it was implied by my previous paragraph so i didn't state it outright. so, we're in agreement.
also, staro, i believe that the parable of the master and his slaves, with the one slave hiding his talent in the ground, does refer to yahweh as the master, and that the master wasn't godless, but rather, only thought to be godless by the one slave who didn't do anything with his talent. the other slaves clearly respected their master.
edit: it should also be realized that we are indeed slaves of god, not servants, as we don't belong to ourselves but were bought at a price. a servant is voluntary, but god owns us. slavery to god is a steppingstone to sonship, which is why paul called himself and us slaves to christ while it is also written that the slave doesn't abide in the house forever, but the son abides forever. the two statements are reconciled becuz if we're unable to be good slaves for god, then how are we ever going to be good sons for him?
or, in other words, if you see yourself as a slave to society, accept it, but seek out an opportunity to make yourself free, that you may become a slave to christ, and from that slavery progress into sonship. this is why, i believe, bill translated the greek word doulos as bondservant rather than just servant, implying that once our term of slavery is up, we progress into sonship, having proved ourselves loyal slaves.
open to correction if this is wrong, but i believe it's right.