Dirty Penguin
Master Of Ceremony
Roman control of Palestine was tenous at best. Not that they could not retain the territory but in there ability to rule harmoniously with the people. As such being the Roman governor of Judea cam with pitfalls. It was not a desirable post.
This from here:
"Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect of Judea during a time of increasing Jewish unrest. It was a resistance that eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. His harsh administration was marked by disregard for Jewish law, bloody confrontations and the crucifixion of Jesus."
That Pilate would issue guards to, one, placate the pestering Pharisees, and two, quell any concept that someone would steal the body and cause an uproar which could lead to further unrest seems perfectly plausibe.
And plausible that he didn't......Mark (the earliest gospel) is silent on the issue of guards at the tomb. The Book of Matthew seems to be the only one giving any details about the guards. Luke and John go silent as well. It's plausible the story about the guards was invented to fill in some gaps in the story. Maybe Mark 16:8 is the end of the story and there was nothing left to tell...