The subject of this painting comes from a story in the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Bible about the Plague of Ashdod. According to 1 Samuel 5:6,7 in the NIV: "Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors. And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.” Poussin himself called this art piece; "II miraculo dell'Arca nel tempio di Agon," meaning The Miracle of the Ark in the Temple of Dagon. This name refers to the temple of Dagon, which was destroyed in battle. Sheila Barker has written that this same battle in which the Ark of the Covenant was taken in this Biblical narrative. The theft of this Ark was believed to have unleashed God's wrath and started the plague.
