What is that drawing symbolize?
Dagon. Dagon was the highly venerated national deity of the Philistines. Each city of the Philistine pentapolis had its temple for the worship of this god. The temple statuary portraying Dagon was characterized by an upper human torso, with the lower torso of a fish. The major cultic rite in Dagon’s worship was human sacrifice.
When the Philistines captured and overcame Samson, the five Philistine cities planned a great celebration. Dagon had delivered their enemy into their hands ( Judges 16:23-24 )! The Philistines called for a sacrifice to their god. Presumably they intended to offer Samson as a human holocaust/offering. Dagon was, however, defeated by Yahweh.
Dagon haunted the reigns of both Saul and David. The Israelites relied on their theological understanding that Yahweh was mightier than Dagonbut, unfortunately, with an inexcusable naivete. When they brought the ark of the covenant from Shiloh and took it into battle against the Philistines, it did not result in their victory. However, the presence of the ark in Philistine hands led to the challenge to their god, Dagon, and the return of the ark to the Israelites.
Throughout the narratives relating the encounters between the people of Israel and the Philistines, there persists an underlying theological dilemma. Which deity is greaterand therefore the one to worship and serve: the Lord God or Dagon?