A dispute (Leviticus Rabbah 3.2; cf. Midrash on Psalms, Psalm 22.29 and Psalm 31:8, ed., Buber, p. 191) between the third-century Palestinian rabbis Joshua ben Levi and Samuel bar Nahman as to whether the phrase “Ye that fear the Lord” refers to “fearers of Heaven” or proselytes would indicate that these two groups are comparable; and the most obvious point of comparison is that proselytes are full converts, whereas “fearers of Heaven” are not. It would also indicate that both disputants recognized that the phrase “fearers of Heaven” is a technical term for a group distinct from proselytes. To be sure Kuhn and Stegemann (Karl G. Kuhn and Hartmut Stegemann, “Proselyten,” in August Pauly and Georg Wissowa, eds., Realenzyklopadie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Supplement 9 (1962), p. 1279) cite this passage to support their view that whereas originally the rabbinic term yirei shamayim was a technical term for God-fearers, by the third century, when there were no longer any “sympathizers,” the term was used of proselytes; but there is no indication in Leviticus Rabbah that the “sympathizers” had disappeared: The only question was whether the Biblical term “Ye that fear God” referred to them.

Another passage that clearly differentiates between proselytes and “sympathizers” is Pesiqta Rabbati 43, p. 180a (ed., Friedmann), which mentions a dispute as to whether the heathen children suckled by Sarah became full proselytes, as the third-century Palestinian rabbi Levi declares, or “fearers of Heaven.” Again, the contrast indicates a distinction between full proselytes and partial proselytes.