Commentary for Isaiah 59:10

in dark places Heb. בָּאַשְׁמַנִּים. Menahem (Machbereth, p. 35) interpreted it as an expression of dark places, and most exegetes concur with him. Dunash, however, (Tesuhvoth Dunash, p. 93) interprets it as an expression of fat (שׁוּמָן), with the ‘alef’ prefixed to it like the ‘alef’ that is in (Job 13:17) אַחְוָתִי, “my narrative,” [derived from חוה]; and that is in (Jer. 15:18) אַכְזָב, “a failure,” (derived from כזב ; and (Num. 21:1) “the way of the spies (הָאֲתָרִים),” [derived from תור]. Here, too, among the שְׁמֵנִים, among the lusty living, we are like dead. And Jonathan rendered it as an expression of locking: It is locked before us as the graves are locked before the dead.

נגששה We grope. It is hap. leg. Some connect it with גוש a clod (Job 7:5).⁸Or rather the reverse, connect גוש with גשש. The fundamental meaning seems to be to touch, to feel; from this is derived גוש clod, that is, some substantial thing that is felt. Comp. Ges. Lex., sub voce גוש.

At noon day as in the night, that is, as if it were in the evening. It is a figurative expression.