Today (February 22, 2021) is the 289th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. In previous blog posts over the years, I have discussed the controversary over Washington's religious beliefs. Was he a deist? A theologically orthodox Christian? Given Washington's reluctance to directly discuss his personal religious views, this topic continues to elicit a great deal of debate.
However, whatever his beliefs, it is clear that Washington did have at least some familiarity with the Bible, as is evidenced by his frequent use of the phrase "under their vine and fig tree." According to George Tsakiridis, writing for the Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington at mountvernon.org, Washington used this phrase in his writings nearly 50 times. Although this phrase appears in three different places in the Old Testament--Micah 4:4, 1 Kings 4:25, and Zechariah 3:10--Tsakiridis argues that Washington was most likely quoting from Micah 4:4, where it reads: "But they shall sit every man under his vine and fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of Hosts hath spoken it" (this is from the King James Version, which was the most commonly used English language translation of the Bible in Washington's time). This verse occurs in the context of a description of "the last days," during which "many nations will come, and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD...and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths...and [the nations] shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Micah 4:2-3).
What did this phrase mean to Washington? According to Tsakiridis, among other things, it referred to the "independence of the peasant farmer who is freed from military oppression," which makes sense, given that the verse it is taken from is preceded by a verse describing a world in which the nations will "beat their swords into plowshares." However, Washington also used it to express his love for his home Mount Vernon--"his own, personal vine and fig tree." He also employed it to express the idea that the United States should be a place of refuge for those oppressed in other nations.
Perhaps most famously, Washington employed the phrase in his celebrated letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, in which he assured the Jewish inhabitants of that city that in the United States "all possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship." He went on to express the wish that the "Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, [might] continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid" (emphasis mine).
Incidentally, in an article in the Journal of the American Revolution, James Shattuck notes that the phrase was a popular one in the period leading up to and during the American Revolution. So, it would appear that Washington was hardly the only one to employ it during his time.
To conclude, whether Washington's frequent use of this Biblical phrase is indicative of his own religious faith can be argued, but at the very least it is clear that Washington found great personal meaning in it.
Image of George Washington from Wikimedia Commons