Release or Deliver??
I've been following the sources cited so far in this thread and another one of my own.
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament has not been cited so far but it tells me that the PLT root or "palat" = "escape, save, deliver" [from death, from enemies, etc] -- not "release", which, as Secret A points out, requires two parties.
1774 פָּלַט (palat) escape, save, deliver.
Derivatives
1774a פלט (pallet) deliverance (Ps 32:7; 56:8, only).
1774b פליט+ (palit) fugitive.
1774c פליט (palet) fugitive.
1774d פליטהל (p eleta) escape.
1774e מפלט (miplat) escape (Ps 55:9).
The verb palat appears twenty-seven times in the OT, of which nineteen are in the Psalter. The verb always occurs in the Piel, except for its usages in Isa 5:29, Hiphil, and Ezk 7:16 (Qal). Da- hood has suggested repointing the Piel in Job 23:7 to a Qal, and reading, "I would forever escape his condemnation.”
As we indicated above, the verb palat is confined primarily to the Ps. The only places palat occurs in the Piel outside of the Ps (or parallel passages to Psalm verses) are: Mic 6:14, “You shall store away (food) but never ‘preserve’”; Job 21:10, "His cow 'calves’ (i.e. escapes from the womb) with no loss”; Job 23:7 (in kjv), “so should I be ‘delivered’ forever from my judge.”
It can be observed then that the verb palat in the sense of "rescue, deliver” is limited to poetry in the OT. In the Psalter the verb is always on the lips of the Psalmist addressed to God either in the form of a testimony of praise for deliverance or, palat is in the form of an imperative, seeking God’s deliverance. In 43:1 and 71:2 we find illustrations of palat in the imperfect, but with imperative function. Only in Ps 91:14 is God the subject of the verb, "I will deliver him.”
A frequent parallel of palat is ‘azar "to help, assist” as in Ps 37:40; 40:17 [H 18); 70:5 (H 6). Cf. the Ugaritic passage, aqht ypltk bn dnil wy'drk, "And (call) Aqhat and let him save you, Daniel’s son, and let him rescue you," 3 Aqht; rev 13-14.
palit. Fugitive, escapee. . . .
p‘leta. Escape, survival . . . .
At that point I was suspecting that Dubourg was wrong -- or the French word relâcher had connotations I was unaware of.
Giuseppe cited
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon ... 0/wlc/0-1/ --- here there is no reference to "release" but the following meanings are listed:
escape, save, deliver, slip away
(Qal) to escape
(Piel)
to bring into security, deliver
to cause to escape, cast forth
to be delivered
to slip away
(Hiphil) to bring into security, bring to safety
"to cause to escape, cast forth" does sound synonymous with "release".
But then
The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament has this comment:
Aramaic texts from Qumran make frequent use of the verb pit peal/pael in the sense of *,escape, release."115 The verb pit appears three times in the Genesis Apocryphon. The survivors of the flood give thanks to the Most High for saving them from destruction (pael, 12:17; cf. Jub. 7:34). In a dream God tells Abraham that, for the sake of Sarai, his life will be spared (peal, 19:20; cf. Gen. 12:13). The story of Lot tells of a shepherd ‘*who had escaped from captivity" (peal, IQapGen 22:2). The pael of plf. ‘‘release." is used in 1 lQtgJob 39:3 for the life that birth brings into the world.116 The books of Enoch contain an apocalyptic passage that says that at the last judgment "the truthful shall be saved" (peal. 4QEnc = 1 Enoch 10:17).,, ד These Aramaic occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls correspond to forms of Heb. pit.
Hasel
115. Beyer. 668.
116. Ibid.. 296; B. Jongeling. C. J. Labuschagne. and A. S. van der Woude, Aramaic Texts from Qumran. SSS 4 (1976): “usher in."
I can't find Aramaic Texts from Qumran online, so moving on to Beyer --
Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer --
sure enough, there are two examples of ptl being used in the sense of release -- but this is Aramaic, not Hebrew, and Dubourg, from what I understand so far, is stressing the role of Hebrew as distinct from Aramaic (though someone can correct me on that point.)
p. 296: 39: 1 [Kennst du den Zeitpunkt des Gebärens] der Felsenziegen, und die Wehen [der Hirschkühe . . .]? 2 Zählst [du] ihre Monate, daß sie voll sind, und kennst du den Zeitpunkt ihres Gebärens? 3 Sie gebären ihre Jungen und geben (sie) frei, und schickst du ihre Wehen weg?
=
1 [Do you know the time of childbearing] of the goats of the rock, and the labor [of the hinds . . .]? 2. Do [you] count their months, that they are full,
and knowest thou the time of their parturition? 3 They give birth to their young and release (them), and do you send away their labor pains?
That looks like a Targum and I don't know its relationship to "Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer".
The second example is from the Genesis Apokryphon, 22.2
[box=ivory2 Kleinviehs, das (oder: die) Abram dem Lot geschenkt hatte, der aus der Gefangenschaft entkommen war, kam zu Abram — Abram aber wohnte damals
=
2 Small cattle, which (or: which) Abram had given to Lot, who had escaped from captivity, came to Abram - but Abram lived at that time[/box]
As for Leviticus 16, it is not Aaron or a priest who "releases" the goat but some random "fit man".
As for Dubourg's point, his comment is that Pilate wanted to release Jesus but was unable to do so because of crowd pressure.
Je note d'autre part que la racine PLT (qui figure dans « Pilate ») signifie en hébreu « libérer », « relâcher » - simple remarque en passant (Pilate n'est-il pas celui qui désire relâcher Jésus ?)...
=
I also note that the root PLT (which appears in "Pilate") means in Hebrew "to free", "to release" - a simple remark in passing (isn't Pilate the one who wants to release Jesus?)...
But Pilate does not "release" Jesus in the gospels though that's what he wanted to do. He does, however, "deliver up" Jesus to death, and the Jews themselves are also said to "deliver" Jesus to death. Paul says Christ was "delivered up".
If there is a parallel to Caligula releasing Agrippa from prison and making him tetrarch, it is an ironic parallel.
Dubourg writes
Tibère meurt . . . et Caligula accède au trône. Il relâche . . . son ami Agrippa et le fait - revirement on ne peut plus inattendu - tétrarque à la place de tous les roitelets de Palestine : Agrippa porte à présent la couronne.
=
Tiberius dies ... and Caligula takes the throne. He releases ... his friend Agrippa and makes him - an unexpected turn of events - tetrarch instead of all the kings of Palestine: Agrippa now wears the crown.
Pilate does not release Jesus though he wanted to. He does, however "deliver him" to death. The irony, of course, is that Jesus' death means salvation/deliverance for both himself and others.
But that's not the meaning of "release" in Leviticus 16 and of course there is no PTL in Leviticus 16.