Longing for Flowing Streams—Water as Metaphor and Mediator in Psalm 42

Abstract

ABSTRACT Psalm 42 draws from the natural world in order to express something about the inner longing and anxiety the psalmist feels over separation and absence of God in terms of a thirsting hind. In this sense, water functions as a metaphor in Ps 42, expressing what is hard to say “straightforwardly” about vulnerability and longing for the divine, the life giving, and the life-preserving. This article argues that water functions in overlapping manners in the psalm, evoking desire, denoting God, expressing vulnerability, but also indicating one way that the psalmist might experience satisfaction: water. Water in Ps 42, like the temple, is an object of longing. Water functions both as metaphor for the divine and as mediator of the divine.