I swear by myself. — The formula is an exceptionally rare one, but meets us in Genesis 22:16. In Deuteronomy 32:40 the came thought is embodied in the language of the loftiest poetry. The principle in both cases is that on which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews dwells in Jeremiah 6:13. Men swear by the greater, but God can swear by nothing greater than Himself.
This house. — The context determines the application of the word as meaning the king’s palace, not the Temple.