Mehetabel

Two figures bear the name Mehetabel — a queen at the close of the Edomite king-list, and an ancestor of the Shemaiah who tried to intimidate Nehemiah. The two are distinguished by setting and family alone; the name itself is identical in both notices.

Wife of Hadad in the Edomite List

The Edomite king-list closes by naming Hadad's wife and her ancestry: "And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadad reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab" (Gen 36:39).

The Chronicler repeats the entry with the city-name as Pai: "And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pai: and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab" (1 Chronicles 1:50).

She is identified only by her marriage and her own line back through Matred and Me-zahab; nothing further is told.

Grandfather of Shemaiah

A second Mehetabel surfaces in Nehemiah's account of an attempt to lure him into the temple under cover of warning: "And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you; yes, in the night they will come to slay you" (Neh 6:10).

This Mehetabel appears only as the grandfather of Shemaiah, the false prophet whose counsel Nehemiah refuses; he is not himself the actor in the scene.