Deuteronomy 8 is one of the most serious passages in the Torah about prosperity. Moses warns Israel, before they enter the promised land, about exactly this: "When thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God." The word 'forget' here is šākaḥ — to cease to care about, to allow to drop from consciousness. It happens passively, in seasons of comfort, without a single dramatic decision.
The prosperity gospel — the theology that wealth is always the direct sign of divine favor and poverty is always a sign of sin or weak faith — finds almost no support in the broader canonical witness. Job was righteous and suffered catastrophically. The disciples were largely poor. Jesus himself had "not where to lay his head." The connection between blessing and righteousness is real in Proverbs and Deuteronomy, but it's never a simple formula, and the wisdom books themselves — Job, Qoheleth — exist specifically to complicate it.
What the Bible consistently offers is not prosperity theology but prosperity stewardship — the understanding that abundance is not an achievement to own but a trust to manage. Luke 12:48 names the principle: "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." Blessing comes with responsibility. The question in a season of success is not only "how did I get here?" but "what is this for?"
Commentary is from a charismatic Protestant perspective, drawing on KJV text and public-domain sources including Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and Matthew Henry.