Commentators explain that God will "separate" the unrepentant idolater from the community for a specific purpose: judgment. Charles Spurgeon likens this to a hunter singling out a stag from the herd to pursue it. John Gill adds that such a person becomes a visible mark of God's displeasure, set apart to receive the full weight of the covenant curses. This is not an accidental punishment, but a deliberate divine act.