Jill Duggar-Dillard really looked wiped out after she gave birth to baby Israel David. Perhaps that’s because Israel was a GIANT BABY. He was almost 10 pounds and 23 inches long. People Magazine says that Israel is officially the “longest baby” the hospital has had all year. You know why? Because Jill was two weeks overdue and Israel still didn’t want to come out. She had to be induced because Israel was all, “Nah, I’m just going to stay in here and get bigger and bigger.” People Mag also says that all of the newborn onesies and baby clothes they bought ahead of schedule were much too small for this giant baby. The Duggar family had to run out and get new baby clothes, size XXL.
Meanwhile, E! News has a theory about why Jill and Derick named their baby “Israel”. The theory doesn’t involve the current Evangelical belief that Israel must survive for the second coming of Jesus, the end of days or the apocalypse. Shocking, I know.
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard’s baby name may not seem surprising to most, but there is more meaning behind it than you think. Israel also has a special meaning to Jill and Derick specifically—it’s where he bought her engagement ring!
You might recall that Jill and Derick’s relationship was long-distance at first, and the two quickly became globetrotters together. “Our story is so very unique,” Jill explained back in April 2014. “The first time we talked, he was in Japan, we met in Nepal, he spent time in India and Israel and then came back to Arkansas where he met my family. We have a very international story even though we live so close.”
And during his time in Israel, Dillard managed to snag the perfect ring for his bride-to-be.
“It’s just a white gold band with a solitaire diamond: a round stone, .63 carats,” Derick told ABC News at the time. “Jill really likes Israel and I’d always wanted to go to the holy land. [When I was there] I had it in my head that I wanted to get an engagement ring pretty soon but I had no idea it would work out [this] perfectly!”
What do you think? I actually didn’t realize that Derick was so well-traveled (I’m assuming it was missionary work), and yes, it’s sort of cool that he bought the ring in Israel and now they named the baby “Israel.” But I doubt that’s the main reason they gave the giant baby that particular name. I bet it has more to do with the second coming, y’all.
Photos courtesy of Jill’s Instagram.
Yeah, they probably got quite a bit of flack for that name and are now explaining it this way.
I believe it’s political. The whole family is political.
Sitting here in the UK, where we don’t really have any second coming evangelicals OR a religious-based pro-Israel lobby (our pro-Israel people are all secular), it just immediately looked like a religion-inspired but political choice.
Why would they want to roll back on that, though? They don’t care if they get a negative reaction, do they? I thought they just enjoy the confirmation bias it provides?
Also, the fact that the dad is wearing a t-shirt that says “Israel Defence Forces” makes me wonder about the reasoning behind the name being more political than they’d want to admit out loud.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they did get a lot of backlash and are now trying to change the narrative. Mind you, isn’t this the same guy who almost ran his sled over a cat?
Just as well he didn’t buy the ring in the democratic Republic of Congo then…the fixation of Christian evangelicals on Israel is hilarious given that the majority of the people there are not at all impressed with the goods they are selling. I really don’t know these people even in the ” celeb” sense but the name sounds odd in the context, but better than vacuum cleaner or smoothie or whatever recent poor celeb babies have been called.
I was going to say it’s probably political, especially based on that gross IDF shirt. Then again, religious extremism is completely tied up in Israels politics anyway…
I remember sooo many comments saying the baby would be”early”, no question now it wasn’t conceived pre-wedding!
When their first girl is born, we will know.
I vote for India Duggar!
Followed by Nepal and Arkansas Duggar?
Followed by Salt Lake City and Albuquerque Duggar?
Twins Iceland and Ireland.
They said when the found out the baby’s gender, if it was a girl they were going to name her Selah, because it’s from the Psalms in the Bible and means pause and reflect. I thought that was hilarious, because it’s actually an instruction to the musician (the Psalms are songs) to pause, lol!
Ha!
That’s like naming your baby, “Walk Stage Left”
Ughh, I have such strong feeling about missionaries. If you want to help the less fortunate, do it out of the goodness of your heart. Don’t fucking show up proselytizing and being disrespectful of those people’s beliefs and providing “help” with strings attached. My sister was a Peace Corp volunteer in West Africa and she hates missionaries with a passion most people reserve for Hitler or Stalin. They would show up with Bibles and tell people their life would get better if they accepted Jesus and all that nutty BS. Meanwhile she was trying to teach and help the community run a self sufficient small business to pull them out of poverty.
Agreed. Let other people keep their own culture and religion. If you want to help your Lord go to help less fortunate, not try to get them to convert to your religion.
Me too. And on the extremes of it, you have people like Scott Lively, agitating (under the guise of missionary work) for anti-gay legislation in both Uganda and Russia.
that is actually very interesting to me b/c I’ve always wondered how ppl from other countries who may not be familiar with religion at all or have their own religion and philosophies handle and understand the dogma ppl like these try and shove down their throats in order to get aide. I also wondered if they would still help them if they didnt buy into the snake oil they were selling.
I can only imagine the hooey they try to spread to some of these countries where they struggle just to get basic food and water.
I can tell you for sure that once the locals reject the proselytizing, these missionaries do not provide help. I have seen it with my own eyes in India. That is, if they are even showing up to help in the first place. Many times they just show up with a ton of Bibles and sometimes toys to bribe the younger children. My sister had to stop missionaries from coming to the school she was teaching at because they wouldn’t actually help with anything. Just show up to take pictures with cute little kids to post on their religious blogs. Of course they threw a hissy fit but the community stood behind her so they had to take their nuttiness elsewhere. Last she heard, that specific group was preaching to people in the next community over (which had an alarmingly high rate of HIV) that they should not use contraception because babies are a gift from God. Now you know why she hates them like most people hate Hitler.
oh wow!
I dont even know what to say to that.
Do the ppl in these countries believe or buy into this stuff? I can’t imagine how some of the stuff they try to preach would come across with the language barriers and also the ridiculousness of it all.
Macey – you should look out the documentary God Loves Uganda. It’s a shocker. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Loves_Uganda
@ sixer
Thank you for that. I will check that out over the weekend. I’ve always been fascinated with other countries views on religion and such. I live in a very religious and conservative area so I really only hear their views on things even tho my immediate family wasn’t into religion, it just wasnt something we ever talked about. It never really made sense to me even when I was a kid but then I always was one to ask a lot of questions to actually try and make sense of things and they really don’t like that around here..lol It really is interesting to see how it comes across to others who weren’t exposed to it early in life, before the critical reasoning and logic skills are really developed.
I come from a typical British household. Nobody ever mentioned religion! Closest we got was the odd bit of “today is Diwali so let’s talk about the stories behind it and what kinds of celebrations there are” or “Christmas is coming up, let’s do a nativity play” at elementary school.
Enjoy this ABSOLUTE doozy you guys… http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/02/04/christian-missionary-discouraged-to-find-africa-isnt-complete-wasteland-that-she-can-save/
and the subsequent LAMBASTING she took in her OWN comments section https://jestidwell.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/it-didnt-happen-like-i-thought-it-would/
Ann- didn’t India finally ban foreign missionaries altogether? Although people already resident or native could still be annoying. The problem is that part of their religion is to annoy, er, spread their religion. It’s very disrespectful.
I do realize she is an adult but she’s so young! It doesn’t help that she looks like a 13 year old either.
I feel bad for these girls in many ways; not that I think having a family is wrong (obviously – I have one) but they never even got a chance to be young adults and consider what they might want for themselves.
Her headband and the baby are both wearing their names. I have never watched this show but do they all wear clothing with their names so their relatives can remember who they are?
I thought the same thing, after 23yrs you’d think they’d be able to pick her out as Jill lol
I always figured they would know who to blame for the crap lying around. Growing up, school supplies were always one colour for each kid. That way, Mom knew who to yell for.
I feel like it’s the contrary. They all shared clothes and all were bought secondhand. They probably cherish something personalized because they NEVER had anything like that growing up. So it’s awkward on a 24 year old, but I could see why she would like something like that.
Don’t forget, she did have her personalized bed, which her youngest buddy Jennifer is now sleeping in. I wonder if Ma & Pa Duggar are going to change the engraving on the headboard since it still says “Jill” on it.
Ughh.. are you really commenting on her appearance after giving birth?!
I think it’s ok to say someone looks tired after birthing a baby. That ish IS tiring. I also look tired after I work 7 days straight, exercise hard or sleep with too much cat on my legs and if someone mentioned it I’d be like ‘yeah, I am tired actually.’
I really want these people to stop getting attention.
No. You don’t wear an Israel Defense Fund shirt for broadcasting your pseudo celebrity child’s birth and then claim you’re not political about it.
Oh please. Naming your child “Israel” is NOT the same as Dakota or Dallas or Brooklyn! Would they have chosen “Adolf” if the ring had come from Germany? Words are powerful. Maybe playing stupid is their new game.
I guess if the ring came from Germany, they would name the kid Germany rather than Adolf which still would be a pretty awkward and stupid name. I never understood giving babies name of countries and cities though. It just sounds weird to me.
I’m not sure they’re playing stupid, but I get what you’re saying. They’re lying.
I’m not into religion AT ALL. But I feel a willingness to just be happy for them and their new giant baby.
That child looks like Jim Bob to me…and no I don’t mean that in a creepy way lol. Also I wondered if he was a C section because that big head is pretty round for being just born! Usually new babes have at least a little molding of the head esp. A head that big.
I hope baby doesn’t inherit dad’s teeth. That is all.
Israel is a very common name for boys in my country, just like any other biblical names, including Jesus. It is funny to me to read that there is controversy on the name. I understand given the current series of events.
Guess it’s a good thing he didn’t buy her ring at Zales?
I like the name, I’m happy for them in this precious time of their lives.
I agree. I’m just glad mama and baby are safe and healthy.
Have never watched the show, but this family just seems to be a holier-than-thou version of the Kardashians
I live in arkansas and I see support Israel photos on my newsfeed quite often.
It is political and being the place where he bought the ring was just an added bonus.
They don’t do anything for non-religious reasons!
non-religious reason? i guess they mispelled the baby’s name. Isreal Dillard, distant cousin to Notfake Bebbeh Dillard
It’s my understanding that Derrick’s work was not directly related to proselytizing at all, but that he was doing accounting type work for a parachurch organization that provided humanitarian aid to those countries. They’ve never spelled out which organization, but that’s what the information they have spilled supports. Whether that’s accurate or not, I don’t know. He’s not much of a public speaker…I’m sure he used his “talents” like is taught in Christianity, which frankly seem to be smiling, going with the flow, and accounting.
All the info about the name choice comes directly from the Duggar family blog and was posted two days ago, so it doesn’t seem to me that it was in response to any particular criticism. Jill also spent time in Israel when her famiky made a pilgrimage (of sorts) there several years ago and actually had to stay longer than anticipated as Josie got sick while there and wasn’t cleared to fly back when the rest of the family did. Jill stayed behind with michelle to help and I believe her when she says that Israel became very special to her. I also believe that those are the reasons they chose the name since it makes perfect sense. The IDF shirt is another story. I don’t have any idea what their eschatological viewpoint is…I’ve always assumed they were millennialists, but honestly I don’t know.
Interesting that they allow inducing. I thought birth was up to God. Clearly it’s only up to God if it’s not dangerous…
Can’t get an abortion, can’t wear a condom, can’t get your tubes tied, but you can totally get doctors to speed up your birth so nothing starts going wrong! All God’s plan.