1)

(a)We learn from the Pasuk "ha'Mizbe'ach Etz Shalosh Amos Gavo'ah ... va'Yedaber Elai, 'Zeh ha'Shulchan Asher Lifnei Hashem' " - that although the Shulchan was overlaid with gold, the Torah still considers it a wooden vessel (i.e. Resh Lakish's previous ruling [that it was not Batel to the gold with which it was overlaid]).

(b)This Pasuk is irregular - inasmuch as it begins with the Mizbe'ach and ends with the Shulchan (as if they were one and the same thing).

(c)Rebbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish learn from there - that nowadays, when there is no Mizbe'ach, the table atones for our sins (through the Hachnasas Orchim that one perform there, the Divrei Torah that one says at meal-times - see Pirkei Avos 3:3, or the Berachos that one recites there [Torah, Avodah and Gemilus Chasadim]).

2)

(a)Rebbi Eliezer in our Mishnah learns from ...

1. ... the Pasuk "Mizbach Adamah Ta'aseh Li" - that the Mizbe'ach ha'Nechoshes was considered fixed to the ground (and therefore not subject to Tum'ah).

2. ... the Pasuk in Bamidbar (regarding the holy vessels carried by the Bnei Kehas) "ha'Menorah v'ha'Mizbechos" - that the Mizbe'ach ha'Zahav is compared to the Mizbe'ach ha'Nechoshes, and is therefore not subject to Tum'ah either.

3)

(a)According to our Mishnah, the Chachamim's response to Rebbi Eliezer, who precludes the two Mizbechos from Tum'ah because they are considered joined to the ground, is 'Mipnei she'Hen Metzupin'. This statement is senseless however - because being overlaid with gold, if anything, is a reason to be subject to Tum'ah, not to be precluded from it (as we learned earlier).

(b)We initially emend the Mishnah to read 'va'Chamamim Metam'in Mipnei she'Hen Metzupin'.

(c)Alternatively, we answer 'Rabanan l'Rebbi Eliezer ka'Amri ... ' - meaning that the Rabanan were simply responding to Rebbi Eliezer: 'You require the Pasuk "Mizbach Adamah ... ", because otherwise you contend, they would have been Tamei 'because they were overlaid with gold'. But that is not correct! They would have been Tahor anyway, because the Torah refers to all vessels as wooden ones' (because we learn this from the Shulchan, which we discussed earlier).

4)

(a)Rebbi Avahu Amar Resh Lakish learns - that, if someone who anoints himself with the blood of the salamander (lizard) cannot be burned by fire, then how much more so Talmidei-Chachamim, whose whole body is made of fire.

(b)And from the Pasuk "ha'Lo Koh Devarai ka'Aish, Ne'um Hash-m", he learns - that the Torah that a Talmid-Chacham learns transforms his body into fire (which rises, and is the most spiritual of all the elements. See also Agados Maharsha).

(c)Resh Lakish derives from the surface of the golden Mizbe'ach - that, if the fire of the Mizbe'ach was unable to make any impression in the surface of the Mizbe'ach ha'Zahav ([see Agados Maharsha] - which was no more than the thickness of a Dinar [coin]), then the fires of Gehinom should certainly not be able to burn the sinners of Yisrael in Gehinom (see Tosfos DH 'Posh'ei Yisrael').

(d)And from the Pasuk in Shir ha'Shirim "k'Felach ha'Rimon Rakasech" he learns - that even the sinners of Yisrael are full of Mitzvos like a pomegranate ('Al Tikri Rakasech, Ela Reikanin she'Bach').