Exactly how many in twelve legions?

"Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, who would promptly send more than twelve legions of angels to my defense?" - Matthew 26:53.

This quote of Jesus was mentioned in chapel this morning at work. Twelve legions? That's a lot I bet. I wonder, more exactly, how many angels would make up twelve legions?

It seems to be anywhere between sixty-thousand and ninety-six thousand angels.



According to the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, traditional Roman legions -- the most widely-accepted and popular "legions" in Christ's time -- contained five, six or eight thousand infantry soldiers.

That would mean God the Father, at the behest of his only begotten Son, would send just fewer than half of the number of angel/soldiers needed to fight an angel-to-man battle with the Roman Army's twenty-eight legions of fighting regulars.

Obviously there would be some handicapping involved here because angels undoubtedly possess some kind of super powers even though the Romans were a tough-as-nails fighting machine. I wonder of Christian historians have ever sat down with Roman Army experts to figure out how such a battle might have played out.