Is defined by Webster to be “self-commendation.” When a person is inflated with self-love, and speaks of himself, it is usually in such a manner as to show vanity and conceit; but when good sense and humility reign in the heart, it is not so. The Christian may in humility give his experience, and in so doing will often speak of himself; thus, David uses the pronoun, I, about one hundred and thirty times, in Ps. cxix, and the corresponding ones, my, and me, about as often, yet no one would think for a moment of calling David an egotist.
Ps. lxiii, and li, and many others, abound in the use of the pronouns, I, my, and me, yet they are far from being egotistical writings, because all glory is ascribed to God, and the use of these expressions is made necessary, from the fact that David had a personal experience, and any attempt on his part to avoid the use of these terms would have been affectation.
So with the writings of Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others, their beauty and excellence would be much obscured by any effort on their part to keep back their personal experience, which they relate frankly and honestly.
Nehemiah is very free in the use of the pronoun, I, and I think his account is quite as interesting, and perhaps more so, than that of Ezra, in which book this pronoun is not used quite so often.
It is not egotism to magnify the grace of God in our experience, and to say, “Come and see what God hath done for my soul;” but this is egotism, to say with Jehu, “Come and see my zeal for the Lord,” or with Nebuchadnezzar, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” J. CLARKE.