2 Nephi 27 and Martin Harris as not the man taking words to the 'Learned'

 If Joseph Smith is your 7 year old son, Martin Harris is the rich neighbor kid who you just don't want your son playing with because you know he is going to be a bad influence and get your kid in trouble.

Martin Harris was called a wicked man at one point by whatever voice was speaking to Joseph.  That could have been more out of exasperation on the part of heavenly beings than a real complete picture or condemnation of the man, but the fact remains that Martin Harris had terrible ideas that ended up causing a lot of trouble (e.g., the lost manuscript), and he seemed to have an inflated view of his importance in what Joseph was doing.

One role that Harris viewed himself as playing was the man who would deliver words to the Learned, and with all the events surrounding that, as prophesied of by Isaiah and Nephi in 2 Nephi 27.  Harris would take some sample characters to Charles Anthon, who would come to fulfill that prophecy according to Harris' account by both requesting the book to translate as well as stating that he could not read a sealed book.

Charles Anthon, I believe, contests Harris' account of the meeting, and where the truth of it all lies, I am not about to resolve in this post.

Rather, I would spend a minute suggesting that the events outlined in 2 Nephi 27 are still yet to come, and that the Harris-Anthon meeting is not a fulfillment of that prophecy.  

It is clear, though, that not only Harris thought this, but apparently Joseph also assumed so as well.  In Joseph Smith's earliest account of the First Vision written in 1832 (the only one including his handwriting), he also gives a brief summary of the Harris-Anthon account.  The way he writes of it clearly invokes the same language as the 2 Nephi 27 prophecy, and the matter seems settled in his mind.

In that account, however, he highlights a critical detail that does not match up with the prophecy as outlined by Nephi, and at least opens the door to reconsider whether Harris was the man to go and take the words to the 'Learned'.  The detail is that Joseph emphasizes it was Harris' idea that he go and do this.  Apparently, the Lord appeared to Harris and stated that he should go into the eastern cities and visit the Learned with the words.  Harris then approached Joseph about the idea, who agreed to it, and off he went.

But this differs from how it was said it should have gone.  In the prophecy, the Lord speaks to the man who has the book, and instructs him that he should give the words to another, who will then take them to the Learned.  Do you see the difference?  Both Harris and Joseph say that the Lord spoke to Harris about the idea, when, if events matched up, it should have been Joseph that was spoken to on the matter, who would then have informed Harris.

It may seem like I am splitting hairs here, and one might argue that the Lord did speak to Joseph through Harris on this, perhaps, or maybe Joseph also had received instruction independently on the matter and just didn't capture it down.  I admit those are all possible.

I wouldn't actually be making a big deal about the difference if I didn't already believe that the prophecy doesn't point to Harris, Joseph, or the Book of Mormon, either.   Meaning, this one difference wouldn't (shouldn't) necessarily lead someone to overturn one's understanding of the events and their significance.  But, rather, when one might be open to understanding events differently, a misalignment of details like this might support that there is something more to potentially explore.

Harris had bad ideas, and was very persistent pursuing them with Joseph.   Again, the incident of the 116 pages ought to make that clear, and I go back to my opening paragraph and say you just want to scream at Joseph back in time to stay away from this guy.  In any case, the fact that what ended up becoming the Anthon visit was also Harris' idea gives me pause and question, at least, whether both this whole series of events happened as summarized by Harris and that it was the fulfillment of Isaiah and Nephi's prophecy.

In saying that, I don't have to mean Harris is a liar, or that Joseph was purposely shifting things to fit a narrative.  It seems to me a simpler things to say that both men were struggling to make sense of a lot of things, and making some guesses as to how what they were doing fit into the overall story (and perhaps desiring to play those roles) seems like something one would naturally do in that situation.  In doing so, they may have made some wrong guesses and been presumptive in thinking that what they were engaged in was the same thing that these prophecies described. 

Unfortunately, when wrong guesses are codified, correlated, and even added to scriptures themselves (as part of chapter headings) walking back from them and reconsidering can be a difficult thing to do.