When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
Very likely your Dagon is in the shape of  self-righteousness. I  shall call it Dagon, for it is nothing better: one of the worst idols in the whole world is the idol of self. The self-righteous man boasts that he is as good as other people, if not rather better, although he is not   a Christian. He does not   know that he has ever done anything very wrong, and he feels that in him there is a great deal that is very good and excellent, and therefore he expects that things will go well with him at last. He has a very fine figurehead for his god,   and though   there may   be a rather “fishy” tail to his character, he keeps that as much out of sight as possible, and conceals it with excuses. The god of his self-confidence is a very pretty thing, take it for all in all; it is beautiful as a mermaid, and he is fascinated with its beauty. He bows before his idol and sings before it that ancient canticle of the Philistines I mean the Pharisees which begins, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are!” When grace enters the soul the dominion of self-confidence comes to an end, down goes the fish-god on its face   to   the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the man discovers that he has no such righteousness as that wherein he trusted. He begins to bemoan his sins and to lament his shortcomings. A perfect change of feeling has come over him. He loathes himself as much as he once admired himself; and now, instead of taking the highest seat in the synagogue, he is willing to be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. “Ah, me!” says he, “what a sinner I am! How vile in the sight of God!” See you not how this brave Dagon   has gone down on   his face to the   ground before the ark. 