John Calvin Commentary Psalms 74:2

"Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; [And] mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt." — Psalms 74:2 (ASV)

Remember your congregation, which you have possessed from of old. Here they boast of having been the chosen people of God, not on account of any merit of their own, but by the grace of adoption. They boast likewise of their antiquity — that they are not subjects who have come under the government of God only a few months ago, but those who belonged to Him by right of inheritance.

The longer the period during which He had continued His love toward the seed of Abraham, the more fully their faith was confirmed. They declare, therefore, that they had been God’s people from the beginning, that is, ever since He had entered into an inviolable covenant with Abraham. There is also added the redemption by which the adoption was ratified; for God not only signified by word, but also showed by deed at the time when this redemption was accomplished, that He was their King and Protector.

These benefits which they had received from God they set before themselves as an encouragement to trust in Him, and they recount them before Him, the benefactor who bestowed them, as an argument with Him not to forsake the work of His own hands. Inspired with confidence by the same benefits, they call themselves the rod of His inheritance; that is, the heritage which He had measured out for Himself.

The allusion is to the custom that then prevailed of measuring or marking out the boundaries of land with poles, similar to using cords or lines. Some would rather translate the word שבט, shebet, which we have rendered rod, as tribe; but I prefer the other translation. The meaning is that God separated Israel from the other nations to be His own special land, by the secret pre-ordination which originated in His own good pleasure, as by a measuring rod.

Finally, the temple in which God had promised to dwell is mentioned. This is not because His essence was enclosed in that place — an observation that has already been frequently made — but because His people experienced that there He was near, and present with them by His power and grace.

We now clearly perceive from where the people derived confidence in prayer; it was from God’s free election and promises, and from the sacred worship that had been set up among them.