1) Why did antoninus have people come with him to rebbi's house? I though maybe it was based on the idea that an odom choshuv should have two people accompanying him, as we see by Avraham and the akeida (although admittedly i don't understand the idea behind that rule either), but that can't be, since antoninus only had one person on the way back?
2) When antoninus said the guard was sleeping, was he lying or talking in metaphor?
3) Why was Antoninus's test to prove that the talmid before rebbi was an angel, to be mechaye meisim,if ultimately antoninus wasn't impressed by it and said that even the smallest of the talmidim could do it?
Aryeh Sherizen, Silver Spring, USA
Question 1: The Maharsha says exactly what you suggested. If on his return journey there was nobody to accompany him, so what? Should he not have gone back?
And besides, who tells you that Rebbi did not send two servants to accompany him home?
Question 2: I don't know what you mean. If, as it seems from the story, the servant was dead, then he was 'lying'. There is no alternative.
Question 3: I did not find an answer, but I would suggest that Antoninus had heard about the angelic powers of Talmidei-Chachamim, but he had never seen them in practice. That is why he decided to try it out on Rebbi Chanina, to see whether it was really true. When he witnessed with his own eyes that it was, he acknowledged that his information was correct.
By the way, I wonder what happened to the servant that R. Chanina brought back to life. Did Antoninus kill him again on the way out?
Be'Virchas Kol Tuv,
Eliezer Chrysler