While releasing a prisoner would have been appropriate for the
observance of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, it is not attested outside the
Gospels. The Mishnah allows slaughtering a Passover lamb “for one whom they
have promised to bring out of prison” (m. Pesaḥ. 8:6). A papyrus text records
the governor of Egypt releasing a prisoner named Phibion and declaring, “You
were worthy of scourging, … but I give you to the crowds.”83
Josephus also records instances of procurators releasing prisoners and crowds
demanding the release of a prisoner on various occasions (Ant. 17.204; 20.215). The custom is credible, therefore, although
the evidence for it is inconclusive. It is the kind of gesture that the prefect
might have made as a way of maintaining good relations with the chief priests
and the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem. (R. Alan Culpepper, Matthew:
A Commentary [The New Testament Library; Lousiville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2021], 544)
