Bar-Kokhba is said to have severely persecuted Christians who "did not deny Jesus as the Messiah and blaspheme him."...
Convinced that Eleazar, Bar-Kokhba’s right hand man, wanted to surrender Bethar, the city in which Bar-Kokhba put forth his last stand, Bar-Kokhba kicked the priest with his foot and killed him. Immediately thereafter in fulfillment of Leviticus 24:19-22, a heavenly voice is recorded to have been heard quoting Zechariah 11:17: “Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye! Thou hast paralyzed the arm of Israel and blinded their right eye; therefore shall thy arm wither and thy right eye grow dim!”[16] The paralyzing of the arm of Israel mentioned above may be illustrated by the fact that Bar-Kokbha required the soldiers of his army to bite off their right fingers in order to prove their loyalty to him.[17]
Bethar was soon captured by the Romans and Bar-Kokhba was killed on the ninth day of Av–the very same day in which the first and second Jewish temples had been destroyed. A Cuthean then brought Bar-Kokhba’s head to Hadrian. Hadrian then ordered the man to bring him his body. When the Cuthean returned, he found a serpent wrapped around Bar-Kokhba’s neck. When the man relayed this story, Hadrian replied, “If his God had not slain him who could have overcome him?”