מלכים א, פרק ט״ו, פסוק י״ב

A sweeping religious and moral reform takes hold, designed to completely uproot the foreign worship and immorality that had become deeply entrenched during the reigns of previous leaders. The king begins his campaign with a decisive act of removal and eradication [מצודת ציון]. His initial targets are those engaged in illicit behavior. Opinions vary on the exact nature of this group; some understand it as a general crackdown on adultery and prostitution [מצודת ציון, רש״י], while others explain that it specifically refers to men who engaged in homosexual acts [רלב״ג] as an official part of the foreign idol worship rituals [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

After cleansing the land of this ritual immorality, the king shifts his focus to the idols themselves. These false deities are described using a harsh, derogatory term that expresses utter disgust by directly comparing them to dung and feces [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. These detestable statues were the very same idols that the king's own ancestors had either physically crafted themselves or, at the very least, formally approved and allowed to be made [ביאור שטיינזלץ].