What Would You Have Done???

OK, so tonight - for the first time in his life - Matthew threatened to run away. I wasn't sure if I should try to stop him, or just let him go. And I wonder, what would you have done?

Here's the story:
Matthew (age 7) is notorious for not helping get the table set when it's dinner time. He only has a few basic responsibilities but somehow he manages to shirk them off on someone else. I am of the opinion that if you are going to partake in the eating of the meal, you are also going to partake in the setting of the table. Matthew, however, seems to think he should get the benefit without the effort.
Tonight I asked him several times to work on the table. (Elizabeth and Joshua were already doing their part.) About the fourth or fifth time I "asked" Matthew to get to work I raised my voice and he retorted, "You don't need to yell at me to get me to set the table. Geesh!"
I wanted to come back with, "Well, asking nicely didn't work. What do I need to do?" But instead I just watched him to see if he would help with the few remaining things left to do.
He didn't.
So I sent him to his room.
He went, but it was with a lot of fussing.
While he was there I considered what to do next. I had initially thought I was going to make him stay in his room while the rest of us ate, and then let him come out to eat by himself. I figured if he wasn't going to participate in helping the family, tonight he wasn't going to participate in enjoying the family, either. However, something came over me and I decided I would just have a brief talk with him and then invite him out to eat with us.

Until I went to his room to have that brief talk.

I had barely gotten two words out of my mouth when Matthew shouted, "I know!" and made it very clear he was not listening to me. I said, "Oh, really? You know? What was I going to say?"
Of course, he didn't know.
I told him I was going to say he could come out and have dinner with us. But since he just treated me so rudely and with disrespect, now I decided he would need to stay in his room and could have dinner when the rest of us were finished. Ooooo, he did not like that decision!
But I walked out of his room to let him yell and fuss by himself.
Over the course of the next five or six minutes Matthew yelled that it wasn't fair for me to not let him eat. He accused me of not loving him. A couple of times he said I hated him. Were it not for Elizabeth and Joshua saying, "It's OK, Mom," I probably would have been in tears. (Brian wasn't home for dinner tonight...) Matthew had a few other unkind words to say and ended with a threat that he was going to leave.
By this time I was feeling more calm, in spite of the unrest coming from across the house, and I took his threat in stride. I knew he was angry with me, and in his anger he was saying a bunch of things which were not true, and which he didn't really mean. I knew Matthew was not thinking rationally (as rationally as a seven-year-old can think) and would eventually see things clearly. I also recalled that there were a few times in my childhood when I threatened to run away from my mom.
So I had the peace of mind to listen to Matthew's threat, knowing it was empty. But I sat and wondered, Do I let him go outside? Where will he go? Will he simply walk down the street? Will he take two steps outside and turn right around to come back in because it is soooo cold out there? Do I insist he bundle up before he runs away? What should I do?
As I sat at the dinner table, I prayed about what to do and fortunately, I never had to make that decision. (Hmmmm, a connection? I think so!) Before Matthew made his move, a wave of reason came over him. He came out to the kicthen and calmly asked me if he could have dinner. I went over to him and we talked about what had just transpired, then I invited him to the table and he ate. (And fast. That little guy was hungry!)
After dinner, Matthew cleared the entire table - by himself - and without a fuss. Hmmm, lesson learned? I sure hope so!!!

But I'm still curious. What would you have done regarding the run away situation?