The New Moon festival was a Mosaic covenant holiday (Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11). Similar to every Sabbath, these festival days were dedicated to reflecting on the Lord; no work was to be done. In the northern kingdom of Israel, people were impatient when commerce was suspended on account of keeping the Sabbath.
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,