When you go to court, before you are allowed to speak, you are sworn in.  This swearing in is a pledge of allegiance to give your word or truth…so help you God.  But God also used oaths to show with absolute certainty that His promises would be kept…and since there was no higher authority than Himself, God swore by Himself.  In Isaiah 45:23 He said, “By Myself I have sworn.”  And in Jeremiah 22:5, He exclaims, “I swear by Myself.”  When we take an oath in God’s name, it is a binding agreement or covenant…a solemn pledge not to be taken lightly.