2 Chronicles 6:22

If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house;

If ... and the oath come before thine altar in this house, ... In cases where the testimony Of witnesses could not be obtained, and there was no way of settling a difference or dispute between two people but by accepting the oath of the accused, the practice had gradually crept in-and had acquired the force of consuetudinary law-for the party to be brought before the altar, where his oath was taken with all due solemnity, together with the imprecation of a curse to fall upon himself if his disavowal should be found untrue. There is an allusion to such a practice this passage.