12 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman. 

13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman. 

14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt. 

15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. 

16 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

Today’s verses finish describing the familial relationships that are forbidden from sexual relations due to being too near to the subject. They include aunts and uncles and in-laws.

There is an interesting detail in this. Relationships that were too close were forbidden, and later we will hear that relationships that were too far were also forbidden, such as with bestiality. There is, perhaps, a symbol in this of how we must relate with the world. There is danger is staying too near, and there is danger in travelling too far. If an individual or a family or a nation isolate themselves from the world, they compound their idiosyncrasies, magnify their defects, and become weak and brittle. But if they become too enmeshed in the world, they become exposed that that which is wild and vicious.

We have to find the balance in all of our relationships. We need to have interactions so that we can ideas off of one another, build bonds with friends and neighbors, belong to a community, and engage in commerce, but we should be careful that we do not ally with anything too alien which would unmake us.