Hannah vowed at Shiloh — if God gives her a son, she will give him back (1 Samuel 1:11). Rabbi Berachiah used this verse to address four theological objections that people raise against God. Someone says there is no resurrection of the dead? God points to Elijah, who revived the widow's son in Gilead — "Gilead is mine" (Psalm 60:9). Elijah will testify. Someone says God doesn't accept repentance? God points to Manasseh, the most sinful king in Judah's history, who repented and was heard. The evidence is in the record.
The midrash is collecting objections and then refuting them with historical precedents. Not abstract arguments — specific people, specific moments, specific reversals. This is the rabbinic method: theology is proved through narrative. The proof of resurrection is not a philosophical argument. It is a widow's son in Zarephath, walking out of a room where he had been dead. The proof of divine acceptance of repentance is a king who burned his own children in Molech's fire and then cried out to the God he had abandoned.
Hannah's vow connects to all of this because it embodies the same principle: she asked for the impossible and then committed to return the gift the moment she received it. The rabbis found this extraordinary — the person who truly believes God can give will also be willing to give it back. Samuel was dedicated to the sanctuary before he was born. His mother prayed him into existence and then handed him over. And from that surrender came the voice that anointed Israel's kings.