Midrash

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A midrash is one of a genre of stories expanding upon Biblical stories composed by rabbis of late Antiquity or the Middle Ages. Orthodox Jews often consider them to have the authority of Scripture; most others consider them to be Biblical fan-fiction. How did the rabbis of old know what really happened in the Bible? Obviously, the Ruach haKodesh told them.

Notable Midrashim

The Three Oaths

A midrash found in the Talmud, the Three Oaths is primarily notable as the scripture behind Haredi Jews' opposition to Zionism. It is based on three verses from the Song of Songs, namely:

Song of Solomon 2:7
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
Song of Solomon 3:5
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
Song of Solomon 8:4
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

The Rabbis interpreted these three similar verses as three oaths: God made the Jews swear that they would not try to take the Land of Israel by force or rebel against the nations they're living in, and God made the rest of the nations swear not to oppress the Jews too much. These oaths are generally regarded as still in effect by Haredi Jews, as having been fulfilled by Religious Zionist and Modern Orthodox Jews, and a very strange interpretation of porn by everybody else.