Guard

Guard in the Old Testament translates several Hebrew terms referring to military or official protective functions. The most significant is tabbah — literally "cook" or "slaughterer," but used as a title for the captain of the royal bodyguard, whose role included both protection of the king and execution of royal sentences. Potiphar (Genesis 37:36; 39:1) and Nebuzaradan (2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 40:1) both held this title, connecting it to figures of significant political and military power. Daniel 2:14 also refers to the captain of this guard.

In the New Testament context, guards appear at significant moments: the soldiers who kept watch at Jesus's tomb (Matthew 27:65–66; 28:4, 11–15), whose report to the chief priests after the resurrection resulted in the bribe to propagate the rumor that the disciples had stolen the body; and the prison guards of Peter (Acts 12:6) and Paul (Acts 16:23–27), whose custody was dramatically broken by divine intervention. The praetorian guard (praitorion) mentioned in Philippians 1:13 was the elite imperial bodyguard to whom Paul's chains had become known, with the gospel reaching them through his Roman imprisonment.