In a series of poems called "Songs of the Suffering Servant," Deutero-Isaiah sets forth his greatest contribution to Israel's religious ideals. He points out the purpose and the opportunity that lie behind the unmerited suffering on the part of comparatively innocent persons. The problem that troubled Habakkuk — why the just suffer and the wicked prosper — had become one of the major issues for the exiles in Babylon. Granted, the exiles made many mistakes, but they were not as unjust or as wicked as the nations to which they were made captives. If suffering is to be interpreted as punishment for sins, it ought to be distributed on a different basis than what the exiles experienced and observed. Deutero-Isaiah does not deny that at times suffering may be a just punishment for sins, but he insists that not all suffering should be interpreted in this way. Having in mind the captivity of the Israelite people, he is able to see in their captivity something more than punishment for the mistakes they made. He views the captivity as an opportunity to do something generous and noble for the benefit of those who held them in bondage. Instead of the Israelites suffering for their own sins, he sees in the experience the possibility of a voluntary suffering because of the sins of others. Such suffering could be the means of winning over the Israelites' enemies to a new way of living that would be in harmony with the principles of justice and righteousness.
Deutero-Isaiah's thoughts on voluntary suffering were indeed new ways in which the captives might find at least a partial explanation — the realization of a divine purpose — for the hardships that they experienced. The prophet sees the Israelite people as Yahweh's servants and as his chosen people, but chosen for the task of suffering in order that true religion might be brought to those who could not be reached in any other way. What could not be accomplished by force or argument might be achieved through the power of love as manifested in the voluntary suffering of the innocent for the sake of the guilty. Speaking for Yahweh, Deutero- Isaiah says to the people of Israel and Judah, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
