The Ancient Theories of Malicious Intent

In Exodus 21, an owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it, must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. An owner who knocks out the tooth of a male orFemale slave must let the Slave go free to compensated for the tooth. This is right on line with what you see in the ancient theories. It seems maybe here we're dealing with something more like saying, look, if you cause serious physical, permanent damage to your slave, this is not allowed. And in fact, we'll result in you losing the slave altogether.