Psalms 42:1

1. As the hart panteth “Hart,” though here construed with a feminine verb, (which would require it to be rendered hind,) should be taken as a common gender. The “hart” repeatedly stands connected with “roebuck” in the Pentateuch, (Deuteronomy 12:15; Deuteronomy 12:22,) as belonging to the same family, and of the class of clean animals. It is the symbol of fleetness, of surefootedness, of timidity and innocence, Psalms 18:33; Habakkuk 3:18-19; Song of Solomon 2:8-9; and is here represented as hotly pursued, faint, and thirsty an emblem of the fugitive and weary king.

Water brooks The term applies often to streams which dry up in summer. The pursued hind would pass the dry beds of such brooks with aggravated thirst at the disappointment. Job 6:15-20. So David had found treachery where he looked for fidelity, and nothing could revive him but the everliving waters of divine grace.