From the Psalm for today’s Mass readings:
Visit me with your saving help,/ that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones… Psalm 106:5
“Prosperity” here is also translated “riches.” Is this an Old Testament precursor to the infamous “Prosperity Gospel” we hear about today?
It is true that the Israelites had no clear sense of the afterlife–all faced a thin, dim, and insubstantial kind of existence after death. They had a growing sense, though, that faithfulness to God was absolutely necessary to “prosper” in daily life. And the God of Israel expected his people to follow those 10 Commandments and all the other laws that were to shape relationships among them. This concern for moral conduct and faithfulness to the relationship with Him distinguished the God of Israel from all other gods of the ancient pagan world. Gradually it came to distinguish Israel from all other ancient peoples. THAT was their prosperity. Even the poor Israelite was rich with that. That is the “prosperity” of Christians today.