186 Serge Frolov around willing to bring the Former Prophets up to date, at least not along Deuteronomistic lines: the individuals to whom 2 Kgs 25,27-30 owes its existence either died or chose forever to keep their peace. This, in turn, places a question mark over the now-conventional definition of Dtr as a “school” or a “movement” that lasted for decades, if not for centuries, and enjoyed considerable following in the Israelite/Jewish society, especially among its educated elite. Phenomena of this kind do not vanish overnight. Of course, if Evil- Merodach’s overthrow had something to do with his favorable treatment of Jehoiachin, the coup could expose the Deuteronomists, whose fervent belief in imminent Davidic restoration was easily interpretable as disloyalty to Babylon and even high treason, to persecution and even extermination. However, insofar as no sources so much as hint at major purges under Neriglissar the rule of parsimony disallows this explanation. A much more economical way to proceed is to surmise that, important as it is from the literary standpoint, socially and historically Deuteronomism was limited to a small group of associates or even a single individual working within a short period – namely, in Evil-Merodach’s reign. Technically, this would be entirely possible. The Scripture looms so large in the Western culture that it is usually thought of as a text of monumental proportions. In fact, the entire Hebrew Bible contains slightly less than 305,000 words, with the New Testament being much shorter (34). The length of the Former Prophets is 69,359 words, but Dtr ’s composition may have been longer or shorter than that: on the one hand, it could include Deuteronomy (14,294 words), on the other hand, substantial segments of the Former Prophets may be later additions (35). I will assume therefore that this composition was between 60,000 and 84,000 words long. Taking a break for Shabbat and major festivals, i.e. working on the average about 300 days a year, a single scribe could complete it in its entirety in twenty-two months by writing down on the average between 109 and slightly less than 152 words a day (36). Even with the writing utensils and media of the sixth century BCE, the task would hardly be daunting; for two or three (34) Here and below I quote the traditional Jewish word count as tabulated in A. EVEN-SHOSHAN, A New Concordance of the Bible (Jerusalem 1993) xxxviii (Hebrew). (35) For a tentative list of these additions, see n. 13 above. (36) To put these numbers in a perspective: the present paragraph, excluding footnotes, contains 218 words.