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What custom is said to have been observed at the Passover?
All: The release of a prisoner by the Roman governor ([Matt. xxvii, 15]; [Mark xv, 6]; [Luke xxiii, 17]; [John xviii, 39]).
“Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.”
There is no historical authority whatever for this alleged custom. It was a custom that the Roman government in Judea could not with safety adopt. The Jews were a subject people, waiting and hoping for an opportunity to throw off the Roman yoke. To release to them “whomsoever they desired” ([Mark xv, 6]) might be to release a political prisoner whose liberty would endanger the government itself. This story was probably suggested by a custom of the Roman emperors who released a prisoner at their birthday festivals.