that she seems not to have noticed the presence of Eli, and had no hesitation in presenting her desperate situation in prayer to the Lord. For her, the power of the Lord of hosts was not confined to military exploits; she believed he knew all about her and could give her a son. For her part, she would acknowledge that any son born to her was in answer to prayer, and therefore she vowed to give him back to God, who gave him. The outworking of the vow shows that she intended this quite literally (v.