For my sake? (05/08/2014)

"For Your Sakes"

I have been intrigued by the phrase ‘for your sakes’ as used in the scriptures. It is used sometimes in situations which seem very contrary to beneficial situations.

Definition
The word “sake” is defined in the online Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) as:

sake 1 (sāk) noun
1. Purpose; motive: a quarrel only for the sake of argument.
2. Advantage; good: for the sake of his health.
3. Personal benefit or interest; welfare: for her own sake.


Looking at the etymology dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com) we also see versions of the same definition:

sake (n.1)
"purpose," Old English sacu "a cause at law, crime, dispute, guilt,"
from Proto-Germanic sako "affair, thing, charge, accusation"
(cognates: Old Norse sök "charge, lawsuit, effect, cause," Old Frisian seke "strife, dispute, matter, thing," Dutch zaak "lawsuit, cause, sake, thing," German sache "thing, matter, affair, cause"),
from PIE root *sag- "to investigate, seek out"
(cognates: Old English secan, Gothic sokjan "to seek;" see seek).

Much of the word's original meaning has been taken over by case (n.1), cause (n.), and it survives largely in phrases for the sake of (early 13c.) and for _______'s sake (c.1300, originally for God's sake), both probably are from Norse, as these forms have not been found in Old English.


So ‘sake’ means essentially for the cause or purpose of, and most commonly thought of in a beneficial way and to be a beneficial thing. We have phrases in which we use it, such as:
…for the sake of honor…
…for the sake of experiment…
…for the sake of your health…

In the scriptures

Some of the scriptural uses are:

Psalms 69:6
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

Psalms 143:11
Quicken me, O Lord, for they name’s sake: for they righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.

Isaiah 62:1
For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

Mark 13:20
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chose, he hath shortened the days.

2 John 1:2
For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

1 Nephi 20:11
For mine own sake, yea, for mine own sake will I do this, for I will not suffer my name to be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another.

Jacob 1:4
And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people

D&C 93:46
I called you servants for the world’s sake, and ye are their servants for my sake-

Not always as good as it sounds

However, there are uses that seem to be contradictory to the concept of beneficial.
To Adam and Eve, as he was casting them out of the Garden of Eden, he said:

Moses 4:23
And unto Adam, I, the Lord God, said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the fruit of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying-thou shalt not eat of it, cursed shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

Cursing the ground and eating of it in sorrow for one’s entire life hardly sounds like a benefit.

The next example is Samuel the Lamanite prophesying to the Nephites when they reject his message.

Helaman 13:17
And Behold, a curse shall come upon the land, saith the Lord of Hosts, because of the people’s sake who are upon the land, yea, because of their wickedness and their abominations.

The third incident is when Mormon is detailing his work among the Nephites, and his multiple attempts to convince them to turn away from their sins and return to the Lord. At one point, the Lord commands him to not preach repentance to them.

Mormon 1:17
But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sake.

Maybe not so bad after all

All three of these scriptures refer to cursing the land for their sakes. How and why is cursing the land for someone’s benefit?

Samuel describes it to us. He was sent to teach repentance to the Nephites, but they would not hear him.

3 Nephi 13:2
And it came to pass that in this year there was one Samuel, a Lamanite, came into the land of Zarahemla, and began to preach unto the people. And it came to pass that he did preach, many days, repentance unto the people, and they did cast him out, and he was about to return to his own land.

When he returns and teaches them, he has more to his message. In this section I am referencing he begins by referring to the good new of a Redeemer.

3 Nephi 13:6-9

6. . . .repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul. And behold, I was sent unto you to declare it unto you also, that ye might have glad tidings; but behold ye would not receive me.
8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of the Nephites, except they repent I will take away my word from them, and I will withdraw my Spirit from them, and I will suffer them no longer, and I will turn the hearts of their brethren against them.
9 And four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten; yea, I will visit them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence.
10 Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction; and this shall surely come except ye repent, saith the Lord; and those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction.
11 But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not.

In verse 11 is the operating point. The focus of cursing the land is to get us to repent, which will prevent the requirement that we experience the very unpleasant consequences of our actions because Christ will experience them and forgive us. That is a good thing. That is a beneficial thing.

The same operating reason will apply to the Nephites in Mormon’s time, that is, the difficulty of mortality and a ‘cursed land’ is to humble them to look to their God and repent so they can be forgiven and return to his presence.

Does this apply to Adam? I think so. Having him labor to support himself and his family (as compared to the Garden of Eden where all the food grew spontaneously sans weeds) will open the door of opportunity to be humble, and to remember to be humble and turn to the Lord. I believe there are more benefits of work and the generalized mortal experience than just that, but that one is the poignant one relating to cursing the land for our sake.

Generalized application of Sakes

We’ve come to this earth to get a body, gain experience, and in the process learn faith and obedience. Not only do the weeds and briers, and everything associated with a cursed land give us experience, but all our difficult experiences give us the opportunity to point ourselves to the most important concept: we turn to the Lord in humility and repentance.

Happy or sad, easy or difficult, all our experiences should be viewed as “for our sake”. Whether it is a 'good' sake, or an apparently 'bad' sake, they both have the intent of helping us maintain or return to the good life and potential our Heavenly Father intends and desires for us. We need to learn from them, and make the best of them.