As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
Psalms 42:1-11; Psalms 43:1-5 form one pair, and therefore have but one title, as Psalms 1:1-6; Psalms 2:1-12.
Psalms 42:1-11.-The Psalmist's panting after restoration to the sanctuary, from which he has been excluded by God's judicial wrath: his tears flow while his foes taunt him with his being deserted by God. His past frequenting of God's house with the thronging worshippers sadly contrasts with his present exclusion. He rouses his cast-down soul to hope in God (Psalms 42:1-5); his depression returns; but he looks for the loving-kindness of the Lord, and so has the song of praise and prayer with him still, and anticipates that he shall yet praise God as the health of his countenance (Psalms 42:6-11).
On Maschil see note on the title, Psalms 32:1-11. The term implies the instruction designed not for the individual Psalmist alone, but for the godly in general, that they may be taught how to behave wisely, especially under exclusion from spiritual privileges and means of grace.
For the sons of Korah. The Hebrew expressing "for" lª-, or belonging to, marks the author or authors. In the psalms written by the sons of Korah, the name 'Elohiym (H430), or GOD, is the favourite one; whereas in the Psalms of David, which, compose the first book, Yahweh (H3068), or "the LORD," is the prevalent name. The Korahites, or Korhites, are mentioned as late as the time of Jehoshaphat, as singers, so that their psalms seem to have been productions of various ages. Still, though the authorship of Psalms 42:1-11 belongs to the sons of Korah, it is David who speaks throughout; and the occasion is plainly the time when he was fleeing from Absalom, and was on the other side of Jordan, as Psalms 42:6 implies. They regarded him as head of their choral school. Compare 2 Samuel 15:24 on the Levites' faithfulness to him. The Korahites were appointed by him to lead the temple music (cf. 2 Chronicles 20:19 with 1 Chronicles 6:16; 1 Chronicles 6:22; 1 Chronicles 6:32; Numbers 26:11).
As the hart panteth. The Hebrew verb is feminine. The female is therefore meant-namely, 'the hind.' Her weakness aggravates her thirst.
After the water brooks - literally, UPON them х `al (H5921)]: the desire hangs over, and rests upon its object. After thee, O God - a different Hebrew preposition х 'el (H413)], 'toward thee,' appropriately used of David's desire directed toward the sanctuary, where God was accustomed to manifest Himself, but from which the royal exile was now excluded. The hind is supposed to be in a thirsty land where no water is, just as David was without access to the channels of spiritual water at Jerusalem (Psalms 63:1; cf. Joel 1:20). Under the Old Testament, though access to God was not wholly denied away from Jerusalem, yet the temple services were ordinarily the chief means of devotion. Israel's church life concentrated itself there, and the religious life of the individual Israelite was greatly quickened by the public communion in it; so that exclusion from it was felt as a virtual excommunication.