Bible Dictionary
SEPARATE
To separate means to divide or distinguish, often by setting something or someone apart. In biblical usage it may imply consecration to God, ordinary distinction, or final judgment and segregation.
Definition
To separate is to divide, distinguish, or set apart. In biblical usage the word may describe ordinary separation, consecration, or the setting apart of persons and things for God. The same terminology can also describe separation in an opposite sense, namely, turning away or withdrawing.
Biblical Usage
The biblical words translated separate include badhal and aphorizo. Separation and consecration were originally not sharply distinguished, so many biblical uses imply setting apart for God. Yet the same idea can also describe separation from God or religious estrangement.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sep'-a-rat: The translation of a number of Hebrew and Greek words, badhal (Le 20:24, etc.), and aphorizo (Mt 25:32, etc.), being the most common. "To separate" and "to consecrate" were originally not distinguished (e.g. Nu 6:2 margin), and probably the majority of the uses of "separate" in English Versions of the Bible connote "to set apart for God." But precisely the same term that is used in this sense may also denote the exact opposite (e.g. the use of nazar in Eze 14:7 and Zec 7:3).</p><p>See HOLINESS; NAZIRITE; SAINTS.</p>