Leviticus 27:32-33

32, 33. Whatsoever passeth under the rod As explained by the rabbins, this relates to the custom of driving the yearly increase of the flock one by one past the shepherd, who counted them with a rod stretched out over them, and marked every tenth one with vermillion or red ochre on the end of his rod, without examination whether it be good or bad. By this means the covetous were restrained from defrauding the Levites by selecting the poorest of the flock. See Jeremiah 33:13; Ezekiel 20:37. The tithe is here assumed as something well known, having like the pre-Sinaitic offerings been practiced from time immemorial. Genesis 14:20; Genesis 28:22. Hence it was not necessary to give a formal command to offer tithes to Jehovah. It is a perversion of Scripture to quote “passing under the rod” as indicating divine punishment. The sheep that pass under the rod have passed from the field into the security of the fold. They have been numbered and safely housed. The flock does not go in as a whole without regard to individuality. The Great Shepherd individualizes his flock. “He calleth his own sheep by name.”