“Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
28:13 Say, his disciples came by night, and stole him while we slept - Is it possible, that any man of sense should digest this poor, shallow inconsistency? If ye were awake, why did you let the disciples steal him? If asleep, how do you know they did?
Mt 28:13 His disciples came by night, etc. The improbability of this story is easily seen: (1) The soldiers would not dare to go to sleep on guard. It was death. (2) If they had gone to sleep they could testify nothing of what was done while asleep. Their testimony of what occurred then would be worthless. (3) The disciples did not expect a resurrection and would hardly believe it when it occurred. (4) They had shown themselves cowards and would not have dared to take his body away. (5) Had they dared, had the Roman soldiers slept, they could not have removed the stone and carried off the body without detection. It was a night lighted with the full moon and all the environs of Jerusalem were crowded with people attending the passover.