A good king is a friend of those who value genuine, godly purity (Ps 51:10) and elegant speech.

22:11 Even the most powerful are drawn to the wise (cf. Ecc 10:12).^[2]

22:11 A person who is marked by purity of speech and heart becomes the confidant of a good king. Compare this proverb with Ps. 15, which describes a person who wants to become a friend of the Lord.^[3]

22:11 The man who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious will enjoy royal friendships. God may be the King referred to here.

A little word in kindness spoken,

A motion, or a tear

Has often healed the heart that’s broken,

And made a friend sincere.

—Author unknown^[4]

22:11. Purity of motives and thought (a pure heart) and gracious words are appreciated by a king (cf. 14:35; 16:13). Naturally he wants to have people like that around him. So purity and graciousness are advantageous; they help give a person a friendship with leaders in high positions.^[5]

22:11. Here is some advice on how to win friends and influence people—particularly important people like the king. Become a person who loves purity of heart and who can speak graciously at the same time. Effective speech without integrity makes one a manipulative hypocrite; integrity without effective speech makes one’s influence ineffective. “It is the equal partnership of integrity and charm, the one not diminishing the other, that is the rarity” (Kidner, Proverbs, 148). It is a powerful combination that attracted the king’s favor in the past and is just as winsome today.^[6]

Ver. 11. He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.—Purity:—

What is purity—this bright and blessed strength of human life? The foundation of all purity must rest upon the body. Without bodily purity no other form of purity is possible. On this must rise the structure of mental and spiritual purity. Our thoughts and words must be not less pure than our actions. Action is ripened thought, and thought is germinating action. “No man suddenly falls.” The thoughts have grown accustomed to dwell on impurity long before the deed of impurity is committed. In pureness of mind lies our best defence. And purity of mind is essential to clearness of spiritual vision and lofty exaltation of soul. The vision of the Invisible is impossible to the impure. And the beatific vision of God should be man’s noblest ambition. Practical suggestions:

1. Cleanliness is a strong defence of bodily purity, and with this must go good moral habits.

2. Wholesome environment and occupation are strong aids to purity. When the surroundings of life are not wholesome, it is a struggle to keep life pure.

3. Go not into the way of temptation, and avoid the companionship of the impure.

4. Reverence your body. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost; let us not defile them with impurity. And whatever else you leave undone, yet believe in pure and sacred love. Love that is not pure is not love. The love of home is a splendid defence against impurity. (Canon Diggle.)

The grace of the lips:—

I. Pure-heartedness. The moral beauty, the moral affluence of it; what it is and what comes out of it; what is a pure-hearted man, and how does his pure-heartedness stand related to his life? The proverb speaks of love for pure-heartedness, a recognition of it, and a joy in it, as the greatest and best of possessions.

II. The outcome of pure-heartedness. A pure-hearted man will be pure in speech; his conversation will be seasoned with the salt of his pure feeling. Speech is the blossom of a man’s life, and is fair or foul, fragrant or offensive, according to the character of the tree.

1. Conversation is the grace of the lips. Not mere religious talk; not prudery—the over-conscientiousness that detects wrong where no wrong is. Over-sensitiveness is not delicacy.

2. Prayer is a grace of the lips that springs from pure-heartedness.

3. The preaching of a pure-hearted man is a grace of the lips. Because of this grace of the lips which springs from purity of heart, special favours shall be won. “The king shall be his friend.” Good men win social confidence wherever they are, and the favour of the King of kings. (Henry Allon.)

The good man:—

This passage leads us to consider the heart, the speech, the influence, and the blessedness of a good man.

I. The heart of the good man. “He loveth pureness of heart.” Not merely does he love the pure in language, in manners and habits, in outward deportment, but the pure in heart. Pureness of heart in man’s case implies—

1. A moral renewal.

2. An urgent necessity. Without pureness of heart there is no true knowledge of God, or fellowship with Him.

II. The speech of the good man. “For the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” By “the grace of his lips” we are to understand something more than grammatic accuracy, or elegant diction—something more than logical correctness or strict veracity. It means speech that is morally pure—pure in sentiment, pure in aim. It is said of Christ that the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. The man of a pure heart will have lips of grace. “If the tree is made good, the fruit will be good.”

III. The influence of the good man. “The king shall be his friend.” Solomon here speaks probably of his own determination. He meant to say that he would give his friendship to such men. “This,” says Mr. Bridges, “had been his father’s resolution” (Psa. 41:6; 119:63). This character smoothed the way to royal favour for Joseph (Gen. 41:37–45), for Ezra (Ezra 7:21–25), and Daniel (Dan. 6:1–3, 28). Nay, we find godly Obadiah in the confidence of wicked Ahab (1 Kings 18:3, 12; 2 Kings 13:14). So powerful is the voice of conscience, even when God and holiness are hated! Such alone the great King marks as His friends. Such He embraces with His fatherly love (chap. 15:9). Such He welcomes into His heavenly kingdom (Psa. 15:1, 2; 24:3, 4).

IV. The blessedness of a good man. “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge.” Three different interpretations have been given to the expression.

1. That the Lord vigilantly watches over His truth in the world. This is a truth, although we are not disposed to accept it as an interpretation of the passage.

2. That what the eyes of the Lord see He remembers for ever. “The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge.” He retains His knowledge. We do not preserve our knowledge. We forget far more than we retain. But we are not disposed to accept this as the idea of the passage.

3. That the Lord exercises a protecting superintendence over those who possess His knowledge. That it means, in fact, the same as the expression elsewhere. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.” This we accept as the true idea. Whilst the Lord keeps the good man, He overthroweth the words of the transgressor. (D. Thomas, D.D.)^[7]

22:11. Grace and truth

The connection between the first and second phrases is left to the reader to supply. rsv seems right in supporting the margin of av, rv (and whose speech is gracious). It is the equal partnership of integrity and charm, the one not diminishing the other, that is the rarity. Cf. verse 29; 14:35 (and note).^[8]

Ver. 11.—He that loveth pureness of heart; he who strives to be pure in heart (Matt. 5:8), free from guile, lust, cupidity, vice of every kind. The next clause carries on the description of the perfect character, and is best translated, And hath grace of lips, the king is his friend. He who is not only virtuous and upright, but has the gift of graciousness of speech, winning manner in conversation, such a man will attach the king to him by the closest bonds of friendship. We have had something very similar at ch. 16:13. Some of the versions consider that by the king God is meant. Thus the Septuagint, “The Lord loveth holy hearts, and all blameless persons are acceptable with him.” The rest of the clause is connected by the LXX. with the following verse, “A king guides his flock (ποιμαίνει) with his lips; but the eyes of the Lord,” etc.^[9]

22:11 / The mt is hardly translatable. The niv inserts and whose, but the entire saying is not convincing.The njps interprets this as a three-line saying. Modern and ancient versions alike differ widely^[10]

22:11. He who loves purity of heart And whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

The literal rendering of this verse is difficult: ‘He who loves purity of heart, grace his lips, his friend the king.’ The struggle is both the decision of where to divide the lines and the determination of what verbs to understand in order to make sense of it.

What is clear is that this proverb stands in stark contrast to the previous one. In contrast to the brazen mockery of the ‘scoffer’ (v. 10), we meet one ‘who loves purity of heart’ and ‘whose speech is gracious.’ Such purity of heart marks one as welcomed into God’s presence and granted intimacy with Him (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8). Ultimately, of course, such purity is not gained by effort, but given by grace. By ‘one whose speech is gracious’ is meant one who is able to frame his words in such a way as to both express accurately his thoughts and gain an appreciation for them. This is more than slick talk, for it arises from a heart of sincere and genuine motives. Such speech is the product of wisdom (Eccles. 10:12).

The reward for such a one is that ‘the king is his friend.’ He becomes a delight (Prov. 14:35) and pleasure (Prov. 16:13) to the ruler. This is the path to high places—genuine holiness and a guarded tongue.^[11]

11 As the focus marker construction in verse 9 functioned to sharply contrast the oppressor (v. 8) from the generous (v. 9), so the nominative absolute construction glossed by as for contrasts sharply the kind of person a ruler expels with the kind of a person who shares his friendship. The nominative absolute that entails an enjambment of 10a and 10bα by characterizing the person states the spiritual cause, and the main clause of 10bβ the blessed consequence. He is one who loves (see 1:22) a pure(see 15:26) heart (see I:90), a synecdoche for the person. Verset 10a features the heart purity of the king’s friend within and 10b his gracious amiable speech without: whose (see n. 24) lips (parallel with “heart” also in 10:8; 16:21; 24:2; cf. Job 33:3; Ps. 21:2 [3]) are gracious (see 1:9). Heart purity, which belongs to the regenerated person, not the natural (cf. Matt. 12:33f.), is put first to protect elegant speech from being a mere facade (cf. 26:25). In fact, his attractive speech is a moral necessity of a pure heart and winning the king’s friendship is a necessary moral consequence from a righteous king (see 16:13). The king (see 14:28) is a friend of his (see 3:28). If the more technical use of “friend” for the king’s confidant was in view, such as Hushai, David’s friend (2 Sam 15:37; cf. 1 Kgs 4:5), one expects, “he is the friend of the king.” As in 16:10–15, an ideal king is in view. An upright attitude and high competence in speech are the prerequisites for a career in the palace (cf. 25:5; Gen 41:37–45; Ezra 7:6, 21–25; Dan 6:1–3, 28; 1 Kings 18:3, 12; 2 Kings 13:14), but the proverb by nature pertains to any moral leadership.

(2) Body: The Lord Upholds Truth and Subverts Treacherous Words (22:12, 13–14)

11 Speech, honest and graceful. Honest and gracious speech will be highly respected. The syntax of this verse is not easy to understand. The text seems to say, “He who loves purity of heart, the grace of his lips the king is his friend.” The simplest interpretation is that someone who is honest and gracious will be welcomed in the courts of the palace (see also 16:13).