According to Peake's Commentary on the Bible, Biblical scholars regard the requirement of Kohanim washing their hands before the Priestly Blessing as an example of the taboo against the profane making contact with the sacred,[1] and similar practices are present in other religions of the period and region.[2] The Jewish Encyclopedia relates that according to Herodotus the Egyptian priests were required to wash themselves twice a day and twice a night in cold water,[32] and according to Hesiod the Greeks were forbidden from pouring out the black wine to any deity in the morning, unless they had first washed their hands.[33]