52. That people whose faith is divorced from charity were represented by the Philistines can be seen not only from their wars with the children of Israel, but also from many other things related about them in the Word. For example, what is related about their idol Dagon, about the hemorrhoids and mice with which they were smitten and infested after they put the Ark in the shrine with their idol, and from everything that then eventuated from that, as described in 1 Samuel 5, 6. Likewise what is related about Goliath, a Philistine whom David slew, as described in For the upper half of their idol Dagon was like that of a man, while the lower half was like that of a fish. This represented their religion, which because of their faith was seemingly spiritual, but, lacking any charity, was merely natural.

The hemorrhoids with which they were smitten symbolized their filthy loves. The mice with which they were infested symbolized the devastation of their church by their falsifications of truth. And Goliath, smitten by David, represented their conceit in their own intelligence.