Joshua 18:1-10
1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.
2 And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.
3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?
4 Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.
5 And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.
6 Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.
7 But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.
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.
9 And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.
10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.
The end of Joshua 14:1-15 tells us that the land had rest from war, so, according to Deuteronomy 12:10-11, it was now time for God to select the place for his name to dwell and people to offer sacrifices to him. The tabernacle at last found a permanent resting place in Shiloh, which is appropriate since that name means, "rest" (Joshua 18:1). It is interesting to note one of the promises of the coming Messiah also refers to him as Shiloh, or the source of our ultimate rest (Genesis 49:10).
The tabernacle remained in Shiloh until the days of Eli the priest. The men of Israel thought the power of the Lord rested in the ark of the covenant, so they went and got it when the Philistines were defeating them in battle. They were routed and the ark captured because God was not with them (1 Samuel 4:1-11). It was never returned to Shiloh and that city continued to decline until it was at last destroyed by the Assyrians (Psalms 78:55-61; Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 26:6).
After the tabernacle was set up, Joshua turned to the job of completing the distribution of the land (Joshua 18:2-10). He chided the remaining seven tribes by asking, "How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?" God had given them their land but they were too lazy to possess it by completing the division of it and actually taking up residence. Joshua required the seven remaining tribes to provide three men each to go out and survey the land that had not yet been occupied by God's people. Keil and Delitzsch say this particularly means they were to list the cities in the area and the type of land surrounding each so a proper division could be made.