George Foot Moore's master work on Judaism in the time of Jesus is available for download on the internet archive. Its copyrighted 1927 so I've been waiting for it to become public domain and it apparently has. It's available for reading and searching online or it can be downloaded in various formats including PDF and epub for reading on your iPhone or iPad. 

If you're at all interested in the Jewish background of Christianity, and you should be if you're interested in understanding the Bible, then you'll want to download this free resource.

Two volumes:

Volume 1

Volumes 2 and 3

Search Before You Pray

The last place God would need to look…

This passage always seemed a little odd to me:

Romans 8:26 NIV In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Odd because verse 27 seemed to be saying that "he who searches our hearts," is God. It seemed to say that God searches our hearts so He can know the mind of the Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit. Shouldn't God know what is the mind of the Holy Spirit? Shouldn't God know the mind of the Spirit of God? Shouldn't God know the mind of His Spirit? You'd think the last place God would need to look to know the mind of the Spirit would be our hearts. Anyway, that's why it always read a little odd to me. So I'd just kind of skip over it, not sure what to make of it. 

Lit bit from something I'm working on about the word "salvation" referring to the story of the lame man healed by Peter, and his response to the authorities about that healing in Acts 4.

Clearly the context calls for saved, salvation, to mean healing in this passage. Peter had just healed a lame man and the authorities are asking how the lame man was healed. I suggest that "must be saved" at the end means something more like: there is no other name under heaven given to mankind that irresistibly compels the deliverance, healing, rescue of the oppressed.