Meshezabeel

Three post-exilic men of the name appear in Nehemiah — an ancestor of one of the wall-builders, a sealer of the covenant under Nehemiah's reform, and the father of a royal officer in Jerusalem. The UPDV spells the name Meshezabel (one trailing 'e'); the older form Meshezabeel carries the same Hebrew personal name through a longer transliteration.

Ancestor of a Wall-Builder

In the wall-rebuilding roster of Nehemiah 3, a Meshezabel is named as the grandfather of one of the section-foremen: "And next to them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. And next to them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel. And next to them repaired Zadok the son of Baana" (Neh 3:4). Meshezabel here is two generations back from the worker on the wall.

A Sealer of the Covenant

A second Meshezabel signs the covenant of allegiance to the law that Nehemiah brings the people into after the reading of the Torah by Ezra: "Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua," (Neh 10:21). Whether this is the same man as the wall-builder's grandfather or a separate figure of the same name is not clear from the rows themselves; the genealogies are not joined.

Father of a Royal Officer in Jerusalem

A third Meshezabel surfaces in the register of Jerusalem's residents, where he is named as the father of Pethahiah, the king's officer in charge of all matters concerning the people: "And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people" (Neh 11:24). His descent is traced from Zerah of Judah, which sets him apart from the Levitical lines of Nehemiah 10.

Nomenclature

The older "Meshezabeel" transliteration (preserved in some indices and the page title) and the UPDV's "Meshezabel" are the same Hebrew personal name; the variant has no bearing on identification.