The interpretation timeline

1Kgs 15:12

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1Kgs 15:12 · Douay-Rheims
“And he took away the effeminate out of the land, and he removed all the filth of the idols, which his fathers had made.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
430
A.D.
Augustine of Hippo Patristic
A.D. 354–430
“Look for a little at those books on the Republic from which you drew that ideal of the most devoted citizen: that there should be no limit or legitimate restriction on his service. Look, I beg you, and notice with what high praise frugality and temperance are there spoken of, as well as fidelity to the marriage bond, and chaste, honorable and upright conduct. When a state excels in these, it can truly be said to bloom. But in churches in growing numbers all over the world, as in holy gatherings of peoples, these principles are taught and learned; above all, the devotion by which the true and truth-giving God is worshiped, who not only commands these principles to be kept but also gives them fulfillment. It is by these that the human mind is prepared and made fit for the divine society and for its habitation in the eternal heavenly country. Hence he has foretold that the images of the many false gods would be overturned and has commanded them to be overturned.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.