...a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him...

This angel is the angel of untimely death. The sword he carries symbolizes accidental death involving weapons or other human instruments. Hunger symbolizes death by starvation due to natural conditions, but also death caused by any natural disaster. Death symbolizes disease. And death resulting from an attack by a wild animal is covered by the phrase the beasts of the earth. These forms of death come last not so much because they entered the world later, but because humans came to this understanding of death last.  Job and his friends struggle with this issue, and even Jesus says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin?  And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.  But the very hairs on your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:30-31).  He is right that the Father has care for every human life, and, at least indirectly, everything happens according to God's will, but if anyone understands this passage as signifying that no death in this world is accidental or undeserved, then he is mistaken.

What is important to understand in connection with this is that, in the grand scheme of things, an untimely death in this world amounts to a negligible loss in comparison to one's eternal life in the resurrection, and indeed, an untimely death may even free one from future sufferings in this life.