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It is said that a guard was stationed at the tomb. Why was this done?
Matthew: “The chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead” ([xxvii, 62–64]).
Is it not strange that his enemies should be cognizant of this when his disciples “knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead?” ([John xx, 9].)
Regarding this the “Bible for Learners” says: “Was such a foolish report really circulated among the Jews? In any case this story, which is worked out elaborately in the Gospel of Nicodemus, is quite absurd. Is it likely that the enemies of Jesus would have heard a prophecy of his rising again when his very friends never dreamed of it for a moment, and when he had never once spoken of his ‘resurrection’ in public?” (Vol. iii, p. 480.)