Daisy — I meant getting out of it if you have a commitment to the Bible as some infallible word of God. Because in that case the fact that it focuses on Jacob outsmarting someone doesn’t change that the method ascribed to Jacob in the story is wrong. As in, even as a metaphor it relies on an incorrect understanding of the world. Which would not be a problem for you but is a problem for those with a more literalist understanding.

You leave out a fifth perspective, “this story is a charming folktale,” which doesn’t require one to “get out” of anything at all, nor to draw a symbolic meaning. That said:

The story is symbolic (of what?!)

I don’t have any special feelings about this story, but I can easily imagine a few ways to read it as a fable or metaphor. Maybe it means that what we think affects how we behave — focusing on something can alter the fruits of one’s labors, therefore focus on something that will produce the results you want. Maybe it’s just yet another tale about the clever underdog, reminding us that cleverness is more important than brute strength or that the “good guy” wins in the end. Maybe it’s a warning to reconsider our assumptions, because in this case, the brown and speckled sheep were the best of the flock. Etc., etc. I’m not saying any of these interpretations is correct — just that it’s silly and inaccurate to say that there’s no way the story could be read as symbolic.

Laughing at people in our modern times (when they really ought to know better) who try to defend the Truth and Profound Wisdom (when it goes against all that we understand via the Scientific Method and modern standards of Ethics) such passages provide is fine.