God's Riches

A large section of the Kebra Negast is just a listing of rulers of the time something like “And Adam died, and Seth reigned in righteousness. And Seth died, and Henos reigned. And Henos died, and Kaynan Rigned…” I found this listing very boring and uneventful until I came across one specific sequence. Under the sections of Concerning Isaac and Jacob, and Concerning Robel I found that it was more that just a listing, but also little insertions about how they ruled well and got great worldly things for it. One specific supplement that caught my eye was “and his possessions became numerous, and his children were many; and God blessed him and he died in honor.” This was interesting because it is contrary to modern catholic beliefs. In my Catholic background we do not believe that God gives us physical gifts in life such as possessions, wealth, children, or any objects for doing good deeds and following God. We believe that if we fallow Jesus and live a good respectful life we will be given spiritual gifts such as salvation and eternal life. The topic of God giving wealth and worldly things comes up multiple times in the text such as “And his seed was blessed, and his kingdom flourished, and his sons were blessed.” The multiple insertions in between listings of rulers makes one believe that wealth and physical things are a gift from God and proved that this is what they are supposed to strive for instead of just doing it for God. This thought has recently been a big discussion within modern religions. I have written a paper on the topic of “Does God Want You to be Rich” which was the name of a Time article. The article exemplifies debates between Christian religions and major pastors. I found it interesting that a text from a thousand years ago mentions topics that are profoundly discussed and debated about today. The link to the article is on the side of my Blogg and if you truly want to read my paper just let me know.