Jews were given Torah because of their arrogance

from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Maharsha (Nedarim 20a): The fear of Him should be on your faces – this is shyness – … This is one of the inherent qualities of Jews and it is a desirable personality trait for a person to be shy but in regards to the nature of learning our Sages (Avos 2:5) say that a shy person can’t learn. However we note in Beitza (25b) that the Torah was given to Jews because they are inherently arrogant. We can explain both these gemora. The Torah was in fact given because of two reasons. Since Jews are inherently arrogant they are natural students because they are not ashamed to ask question. Secondly it was given to them because the Torah diminishes arrogance as it says that fear of G d should be on their faces which is shyness.