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Mat_27:15 Κατὰ ἑορτήν ] on the occasion of the feast, i.e. during the feast-time (Kühner, II. 1, p. 412; Winer, p. 374 [E. T. 500]); that the Passover is here meant is evident from the context.
As there is no allusion to this custom anywhere else (for an account of which, however, see Bynaeus, de morte Chr. III. p. 97 ff.), nothing whatever is known as to when it originated. But whether we date the custom back to the Maccabaean age or to an earlier period still (Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 570), or regard it as having been introduced[33] for the first time by the Romans (Grotius, Schleiermacher, Friedlieb) for the purpose of conciliating the Jews, we cannot fail to see in it a reference to that which is intended to be set forth by the Passover (sparing mercy), and applicable most probably to the 14th of Nisan (comp. on Joh_18:24; Joh_18:39).
[33] It may be mentioned as tending to favour this supposition, that while no trace of such a custom is met with in the Talmud, there is something to a certain modified extent analogous to it in the practice observed by the Romans at the feast of the lectisternia (Liv. Mat_5:14). Schoettgen detects an allusion to some such origin in Pesachim f. 91, 1, though this is very doubtful. Then, as for the statement of Josephus, Antt. xx. 9. 3, which is quoted by Keim, it cannot be said to imply the existence of any practice, and it refers besides to a case in which ten persons were liberated.