Swearing falsely is a very serious thing in Judaism. To explain the severity of a false oath, the Ibn Ezra elaborates that by swearing, one connects their word to Hashem, and thus if it is not fulfilled, he has openly profaned G-d's name. To demonstrate this idea, the Ibn Ezra continues, "the custom of the Egyptian people to this day is if a person swears by the head of the king and does not fulfill his word, he is killed. Even if he gives his weight in gold, he is not spared, for he has publicly embarrassed the king...
"If the Jews had only this one sine to account for, it would be sufficient reason for the length of this bitter exile and to heap more wounds upon the ones we already suffer from..."
אבן אזרע שמות כ, ו
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