What is the grammatic significance of the participle מְרַחֶ֖פֶת in Genesis 1:2?

Question

The sentence structure subject participle object is the typical Hebrew structure for expressing a meaning translated present tense in English. However, this doesn't seem to fit the meaning here. What is the significance of this grammatic structure.

וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם (from Genesis 1:2, BHS2003)

Reference about this phrase that doesn't seem to answer this question. The Hebrew grammars I have don't seem to help.

sweeping The Hebrew stem r-ḥ-f appears otherwise in Deuteronomy 32:11, where it describes an eagle hovering over its young, a meaning it also possesses in Ugaritic; but in Jeremiah 23:9 it refers to bones trembling or shaking. The basic idea of the stem is vibration, movement. Hitherto all is static, lifeless, immobile. Motion, which is the essential element in change, originates with God’s dynamic presence. -- Sarna, N. M. (1989). Genesis (pp. 6–7). Jewish Publication Society.

Example of grammatic structure in Modern Hebrew.

Answer 1

I'm an amateur at Ancient Hebrew

וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְהֹ֑ום וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃

But there is poetic structure here too, which I think helps

1. wəhā’āreṣ...........wāḇōhū,.wəḥōšeḵ............wərūaḥ......məraḥep̄eṯ......

2. ...........hāyəṯāh.............................məraḥep̄eṯ......

3. wəhā’āreṣ,......................ṯəhōwm;.........................

Starting with (3), the first half of the line is chiastic with the Earth balancing the Deep, and the doubled idea of darkness and void inbetween them.

About (2), the first half has the main verb hayah=to be. In the second half the Spirit is a 5th subject following Earth, Darkness, Void, Deep, but for balance there is wanted another verb. The participle here parses normally, mem shva marks the piel form, but it's far enough away from hāyəṯāh that poetically I feel it's doing double-duty as an absolute. From Gesenius:-

The participles active, in virtue of their partly verbal character, possess the power of governing like verbs, and consequently, when used in the absolute state, may take after them an object either in the accusative, or with the preposition with which the verb in question is elsewhere usually construed,

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesenius%27_Hebrew_Grammar/116._The_Participles

The LXX inserts a καὶ and promotes ἐπεφέρετο into a main verb, which suggests they might have felt the structure couldn't work in Greek. (They work some of the poetic balance back in another way, by repeating ἐπάνω + genitive.) English either promotes the participle to a verb ("moved" - as KJV) or supplies/repeats the verb to be ("was moving" - as most of the others).

About (1) As well as the balance, there is an assonance wəhā’āreṣ...wəḥōšeḵ = = wərūaḥ...məraḥep̄eṯ Earth...Deep = = Spirit...Hovering

The lumpen physical world is being contrasted (and collided!) with the limitless potential of the spirit. The participle lets the second half flow from the first, but hearing a sense of an absolute makes the hovering spirit as concrete as the earth that is. This might extend to the grammar: that God's participle is as concrete as our verb to be.

There is a quite long delay between 1:2's verb and 1:3's verb, and the participle sustains that for tension. A little like in the English phrase going...going...gone.

Answer 2

While Felix shows the wording structure, which is important to the meaning, I am asking about the significance of the participle as opposed to a perfect tense verb. I had found the section "§ 50. The Participle" in Gesenius's grammar, but missed finding "§ 116. The Participles" until Felix referenced it.

The following appears to describe the grammatic structure.

o

(b) To represent past actions or states, sometimes in independent noun-clauses, e.g. Ex 20:18 וְכָל־הָעָם רֹאִים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹת and all the people saw the thunderings, &c.; 1 K 1:5; in negative statements, e.g. Gn 3923 a; sometimes in relative clauses, e.g. Gn 39 b, Dt 3:2 (cf. also the frequent combination of the participle with the article as the equivalent of a relative clause, e.g. Gn 32:10 הָֽאֹמֵר which saidst; 12:7, 16:13, 35:1, 3, 36:35, 48:16, 2 S 15:31, &c.); sometimes again (see n) in circumstantial clauses, especially those representing actions or states which occurred simultaneously with other past actions, &c., e.g. Gn 19:1 and the two angels came to Sodom וְלוֹט ישֵׁב and (i.e. while) Lot sat, &c.; 18:1, 8, 16, 22, 25:26, Ju 13:9, 2 Ch 22:9; also with the subject introduced by הִנֵּה 37:7, 41:17. (On הֹלֵךְ with a following adjective or participle to express an action constantly or occasionally recurring, cf. § 113 u.) -- Gesenius, F. W. (1910). Gesenius’ Hebrew grammar (E. Kautzsch & S. A. E. Cowley, Eds.; 2d English ed., p. 359). Clarendon Press.

Gesenius's example here explains it. Lots sitting was simulations to the surrounding verbs.

וַ֠יָּבֹאוּ ‬שְׁנֵ֨י הַמַּלְאָכִ֤ים‬ סְדֹ֨מָה֙ בָּעֶ֔רֶב וְלֹ֖וט יֹשֵׁ֣ב בְּשַֽׁעַר־סְדֹ֑ם וַיַּרְא־לֹוט֙ וַיָּ֣קָם לִקְרָאתָ֔ם וַיִּשְׁתַּ֥חוּ אַפַּ֖יִם אָֽרְצָה׃ (Gen. 19:1, BHS2003)

Thus, the meaning of the participle in Genesis 1:2 was to show the surrounding events were simultaneous.