Tour Shiloh:
First Home of the Tabernacle

At Shiloh, you are in the heartland of biblical Israel, walking in the footsteps of the Israelites who gathered here to set up the Tabernacle (Joshua 18:1) - its first home in the Holy Land.

Your Shiloh tour begins at the visitors center, where you'll see a model of the Tabernacle and hear a wonderful explanation. Then, on the short trail to Tel Shiloh, you'll pass an ancient tomb believed to be that of the ill-fated Eli, priest of Shiloh, and a fifth-century church with beautiful mosaics.

With your first dramatic view of the place of the Tabernacle, you can almost see Hannah, who beseeched God for a son here

With your first dramatic view of the place of the Tabernacle, you can almost see Hannah, who beseeched God for a son here (1 Sam. 1:10-11), and feel her joy when she brought that child - Samuel - back here to serve the Lord (1 Sam. 2:24-28). You can picture the Israelites families who gathered here for worship (Deut. 12:18), and it's easy to imagine the young Israelite women, dancing in the valley below at the grape harvest, as the men of Benjamin secretly eyed them as future brides (Judges 21:20)! As you feel the powerful spiritual pull of this place, you'll know you've found biblical memories just waiting to become your own.