Psalm 42

The sons of Korah were a Levite family. Their ancestor Korah died leading a rebellion against Moses, but the record notes that his children did not die — and their descendants became doorkeepers and singers in the sanctuary. Eleven psalms carry their name. A guild descended from a rebel became the choir.

"I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar." This is the far northern frontier. Mount Hermon is a snow-capped range whose meltwater feeds the springs that become the Jordan; the water comes out of the rock and drops through gorges in a series of falls. "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" is written by someone standing in that roar.

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks" is a picture from the same dry country the rest of the Psalter lives in. Deer in that region worked the wadi beds looking for water, and in a drought the brooks failed. A panting deer at a dry channel is an animal in trouble, not a pastoral scene.

"I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday." Israel's men were required to appear at the sanctuary three times a year, and pilgrims traveled in large singing companies for safety and celebration. The singer is remembering being at the front of that column.