But you have a custom that I should release one unto you at the pasch: will you, therefore, that I release unto you the king of the Jews?

But ye have a custom that I release some one to you at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews?

But you have a custom that I should release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So shall I release to you the King of the Jews?"

But every year you make a request to me to let a prisoner go free at the Passover. Is it your desire that I let the King of the Jews go free?

It is, however, the custom for me to grant you the release of one man at the Passover Festival. Do you wish for the release of the king of the Jews?"

But you have a custom. Pilate was all along pondering in what way he might save Christ's life; but, the people being so fiercely enraged, he attempted to keep a middle path, in order to allay their fury; for he thought that it would be enough if Christ, being dismissed as a malefactor, were marked with perpetual ignominy. He therefore selects Barabbas above all others, in order that, by a comparison with that man, the hatred which they bore to Christ might be softened down; for Barabbas was universally and strongly detested on account of his atrocious crimes. And, indeed, is there any thing more detestable than a robber? But Luke (Luke 23:19) relates that, in addition to this, he was guilty of other crimes. That the Jews preferred him to Christ, did not happen without a singular interposition of the providence of God; for it would have been highly unbecoming, that the Son of God should be rescued from death by so dishonorable a price. Yet by his death, he was thrown into the deepest ignominy, so that, in consequence of the release of Barabbas, he was crucified between two robbers; for he had taken upon himself the sins of all, which could not be expiated in any other way; and the glory of his resurrection, by which it was speedily followed, caused his death itself to be a splendid triumph. This custom, by which the Roman governor delivered up to the Jews, every year, at the passover, some criminal, involved a base and heinous crime. It was done, no doubt in order to honor the sacredness of the day, but was, in reality, nothing else than a shameful profanation of it; for Scripture declares, that he who acquitteth the guilty is abomination in the sight of God, (Proverbs 17:15;) and therefore he is far from taking delight in that improper kind of forgiveness. Let us learn by this example, that nothing is more ridiculous, than to attempt to serve God by our inventions; for, as soon as men begin to follow their own imaginations, there will be no end till, by falling into some of the most absurd fooleries, they openly insult God. The rule for the worship of God, therefore, ought to be taken from nothing else than from his own appointment.

See the notes at Matthew 27:15-21.

But ye have a custom - Nothing relative to the origin or reason of this custom is known. Commentators have swam in an ocean of conjecture on this point. They have lost their labor, and made nothing out: see the notes on Matthew 27:15; Luke 23:17.

But ye have a custom,.... Not a law, either of God or man's, but a custom; and which was not originally observed at the feast of the passover, and perhaps was not of any long standing; but what the Roman governors, by the order of Caesar, or of their own pleasure, had introduced to ingratiate themselves into the affections of the people; and being repeated once and again, was now looked for:
that I should release unto you one at the passover; which was at this time; and more than one it seems it was not customary, to release:
will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? who they had said called himself so, and was so accounted by others, and which Pilate says, in a sneering, sarcastic way; though he was heartily willing to release him, and was in hopes they would have agreed to it, since nothing could be proved against him; however, he proposes it to them, and leaves it to their option.

But ye have a custom that I should release one unto you at the passover, &c.--See on Mark 15:7-11. "On the typical import of the choice of Christ to suffer, by which Barabbas was set free, see the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus, particularly Leviticus 16:5-10, where the subject is the sin offering on the great day of atonement" [KRAFFT in LUTHARDT].

Ye have a custom. See notes on Matthew 27:15. He was eager to comply with the custom in order to release an innocent prisoner, but he had not measured the depths of the Jewish hate which could demand, instead, a robber and a murderer.