Guards at Jesus tomb

Who were the guards outside Jesus' tomb?

Matthew 6:62-66 says that the chief priests and Pharisees requested of Pilate that Jesus' tomb be guarded.  They thought that if word breaks out in the future that Jesus had come back to life, then "all hell would break lose".  People would believe in Jesus.  The religious leaders would lose control.  So to make sure that such a rumour would not be fabricated, they wanted the tomb sealed and guarded.

Pilate consented.  He either said "You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can." or "Take a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can." (according to the ESV version of the Bible, and noting the footnote).

The two possible meanings leave us some ambiguity.  Were the guards from Pilate's Roman soldiers?  Or were they temple guards?  Does it make a difference to the story?

I read an article that studied the difference, and thought about it.

In a way, yes, it does make a difference.  Roman soldiers are better trained, and more committed to the tasks assigned to them.  They face a penalty of execution if they slept on the job.  Temple guards can be forgiven more easily.  Temple guards report to the chief priests.  Roman guards report back to their centurion, and ultimately back to Pilate.  Hence Matthew 28:11 could imply that they were temple guards instead of being Roman guards, although the word "some" leave the ambiguity there.

For Jesus' followers to steal the body would be less likely to happen in the case of Roman guards.  However, Jesus' followers were feeling sad, depressed, confused and afraid at the time.  They were not in a position to overcome either guard or to roll away the stone.  Matthew 28:2 says that there was an earthquake, and an angel of the Lord rolled the stone away.

The story about the guard stopped at this point.  It was deemed to be no longer significant enough to write about, as in either case, their story was no longer credible.  The main point, regardless of which guard, is that Jesus did rise from the dead.

If Jesus' followers did fabricate the story, then the details of the fabrication would have come out during torture or threat of death.  But they were too afraid at the time to try something so heroic at the time anyway.  If Joseph of Arimethea changed his mind and moved the body before the guard was placed, then either he or his accomplices would have confessed ... or the body would have been found at some stage.

I think Jesus' resurrection really happened.  What do you think?  What plausible stories can you think of to say it didn't happen if you don't believe it?  What convinces you that the story is true if you believe it?  Please share.