Over the generations, thousands of commentaries have been written, and thousands of legends have arisen and become an integral part of the story of each Biblical personality.
Dimensions and aspects only hinted at in the Biblical accounts have been developed, and each character has gained in depth and substance through the great creative expositions in the Talmud, in the Kabbalah, in oral tradition, and in folk tales.
No Biblical story is complete without these additional strata of content, which add new forms and lines to each portrait, solving some problems, adding new material and producing new outlines which in turn must be filled in and completed
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz