Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai posed a question that cuts to the heart of the relationship between God and the stranger. He placed two verses side by side and let the contrast speak for itself.
The first verse comes from the Song of Deborah in (Judges 5:31): "And His lovers are like the rising of the sun in its might." This describes the people who love God — the righteous of Israel who devoted their lives to serving the Creator. Their reward is magnificent. They shine like the sun at its most powerful.
The second verse comes from (Deuteronomy 10:18): "And He loves the stranger." This describes God's own love — directed specifically at the ger, the convert or stranger who has chosen to join the people of Israel.
Now Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai asks his devastating question: Who is greater? One who loves the King, or one whom the King loves?
The answer is immediate and needs no elaboration: certainly, one whom the King loves. It is a wonderful thing to love God. The righteous who do so are compared to the blazing sun. But it is an even greater thing to be loved by God. And the Torah tells us explicitly that God loves the stranger.
This teaching elevates the convert and the outsider to an extraordinary status. Those born into the covenant love God because they were raised to. But the stranger chose to come close, and God responded by loving them personally. The born Israelite shines like the sun. The stranger is cherished by the Creator of the sun.
Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai's argument is elegant, unforgettable, and radical: in the economy of divine love, the stranger holds a privileged place that even the lifelong faithful cannot claim.