Megillah 13A

דלא קטליה דוד לשמעי, דאתיליד מיניה מרדכי דמיקני ביה המן. ומה שילם לי ימיני ⁠— דלא קטליה שאול לאגג, דאתיליד מיניה המן דמצער לישראל.

the responsibility of Judah, as David did not kill Shimei, although he was liable to the death penalty. The grave consequences of this failure included that Mordecai was born from him, and it was he against whom Haman was jealous, leading Haman to issue a decree against all of the Jewish people. And how a Benjamite has repaid me is referring to the fact that Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, did not kill the Amalekite king Agag immediately, from whom Haman was later born, and he caused suffering to the Jewish people.

רבי יוחנן אמר: לעולם מבנימן קאתי, ואמאי קרי ליה ״יהודי״? על שום שכפר בעבודה זרה. שכל הכופר בעבודה זרה נקרא ״יהודי״, כדכתיב: ״איתי גוברין יהודאין וגו׳״.

R' Yoḥanan said a different explanation of the verse: Actually, Mordecai came from the tribe of Benjamin. Why, then, was he referred to as Yehudi? On account of the fact that he repudiated idol worship, for anyone who repudiates idolatry is called Yehudi. It is understood here in the sense of yiḥudi, one who declares the oneness of God, as it is written: “There are certain Jews [Yehuda’in] whom thou hast appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylonia, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: They serve not your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:12). These 3 individuals were in fact Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were not all from the tribe of Judah but are referred to as Yehuda’in because they repudiated idol worship.

רבי שמעון בן פזי, כי הוה פתח בדברי הימים, אמר הכי: כל דבריך אחד הם, ואנו יודעין לדורשן. ״ואשתו היהודיה ילדה את ירד אבי גדור ואת חבר אבי שוכו ואת יקותיאל אבי זנוח ואלה בני בתיה בת פרעה אשר לקח מרד״.

§ Incidental to the exposition of the word Yehudi as one who repudiates idolatry, the Talmud relates that when R' Shimon ben Pazi introduced his exposition of the book of Chronicles, he addressed the book of Chronicles and said as follows: All of your words are one, and we know how to expound them. This introduction made reference to the fact that the book of Chronicles cannot always be interpreted literally but requires exposition, as the same individual might be called by various different names, as in the following verse: “And his wife HaYehudiyya bore Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took” (I Chronicles 4:18).