maintained Your covenant: This verse refers to the sin of the gold calf at Mount Sinai and to what happened at Baal-peor (Exodus 32:25–29; Numbers 25:6–9). At those times, the Levites chose to stand with the Lord.
Their love for the Lord and their loyalty to his covenant (his binding agreement with his people) were stronger than their loyalty to their own families. Because of this, God did not destroy the whole nation. Instead, the Levites received the special honor described here.