Rabbi Kornfeld,
Hash-m emachem. Near the top of Yoma 39b, the gemara relates the story of Shimon HaTzaddik predicting his own death.? The gemara says ?ђ???Ё ???"?ќ ?'?(c)? ?" ?-?• ?"?•?ђ ????.? The simple translation is "he said to them that this year? I will? die".? Yet the literal translation of ?"?•?ђ ???? is "he will die" (or he died).? Is Shimon HaTzaddik referring to himself in the third person?? If so, is that not a bit arrogant?
I am not sure why you think that speaking in the third person is a sign of arrogance and not humility (i.e. avoiding the use of the first person).
In any event, it seems to me that Shimon ha'Tzadik did not want to use the first person in order not to forebode evil about himself ('Al Tiftach Peh le'Satan'). Perhaps if had said 'I' instead of 'he', the Satan would have struck him down immediately.
b'Virchas Kol Tuv
Eliezer Chrysler.