How tight and compact. Following the lines of the Second Temple structure, Herod ordered a renovation that while magnificent in the eyes of many of his time, Herod must have been amused at how puny the Temple itself must have seemed. Herod's work was grand and impressive elsewhere. The Jewish deity did not need towering statues of precious metals and ivory. Yet the holy places of other gods were not as zealously held sacrosanct as this structure's Holy of Holies, where one carefully selected man would venture in for a quiet, penitent moment on behalf of people. As Herod was aware of the politics and pressures of people and personalities, this aspect of one before God in quiet solitude must have amazed him for at least a moment.