Judges 2

Can you imagine if the Prophet and all associated general authorities were taken and we were left with only stake president or bishops.  Think of the confusion and differences in administration.  In my mind this is what happened after Joshua because so many of Israel were disobedient.  We read the results -

"...there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
11 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:
12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger.
13 And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth."  (Judges 2:10–13)

This was the case for some 200 years.