The subject is taken from Numbers, Chapter 25, verses 6-18. Karel van Mander Het Schilderboeck, English translation by C. van de Wall, 1936, p. 290) mentions a painting of this subject by the artist's father, Joos van Winghe, with life size figures belonging to Melchior Wijntgis at Middelberg. The composition is also recorded in a drawing by Neremias van Winghe in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, and an engraving by Jacques Granthomme of 1599 (G. Poensagen in Pantheon, XXVIII, 1970, p. 511, pl. 10). The above picture is thus a reduced version of the larger picture mentioned by van Mander.