Joshua 18:8
And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh. And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.
Joshua's command to return to him at Shiloh points to that place as newly chosen for the permanent location of the tabernacle. Until then Gilgal had served as the headquarters of the nation and the seat of the tabernacle, and now that role passed to Shiloh. Shiloh was a little town in the lot of Ephraim, lying near the center of the land and easy of access to all the tribes. It stood in a district where the country had been thoroughly subdued, so that worshipers could come together without molestation.
At that time the whole congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. The tribes that were still encamped followed it from Gilgal and pitched near Shiloh until they dispersed to their possessions. The casting of lots before the LORD commanded by Joshua for the division of the land took place there in God's presence. The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years, until because of the sins of Eli's house it fell into the hands of the Philistines and Shiloh was ruined.
The ark was never returned to the tabernacle there, the sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into insignificance with only ruins to mark where it stood. Long afterward its fate was made a warning to Jerusalem that God would do to the house called by His name and to the place given to Israel as He had done to Shiloh.