How Many Guards at the Tomb‪?‬

Christian art portrays the tomb on Easter morn as being guarded by just two Roman guards, leading both Christians and non-Christians to give credence to an explanation that was roundly dismissed at the time: the guards simply fell asleep. In this series of essays, Christian apologist Anthony Horvath shows how artist's portrayals are not only inaccurate, but undermine what they seek to honor.

It is, after all, quite ironic, that those who firmly believe in the resurrection of Jesus would fuel skepticism of that event. The evidence strongly supports the presence of many more guards--16 or more, in fact. Moreover, Horvath argues that there were both Roman and Jewish guards presence, and provides documentation to support his contention.

With dozens, if not hundreds, of people watching Jesus' tomb, it becomes implausible to the extreme to suppose that the guards merely fell asleep and the disciples stole his body. In fact, it is almost certainly the case that the presence of the guards are precisely why so many people came to believe in the resurrection immediately after it was claimed to have happened.

What began as a well-trafficked and very popular blog post on sntjohnny.com is now an ebook with further argumentation, documentation, and corroboration.

Contents:

* How many guards at Jesus' tomb?
** Were they Roman Guards or Temple Guards?
** The Discipline of the Roman Soldier
** The Romans and Jews: So (un)Happy Together
** Pilate puts Jesus on Trial, the Jews put Pilate on Trial
** The Presence of Jewish Guards at the Tomb