שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך
This can be translated as: "Ask your father and he will appoint your elders and they will teach you." Rashi hints that the father refers to the prophets, and in particular to Eliyahu, who is called father in II Melachim 2:12:ואלישע ראה והוא מצעק אבי אבי רכב ישראל
I suggest that this sheds light on Malachi 3:23-24:
הנה אנכי שלח לכם את אליה הנביא לפני בוא יום ה' הגדול והנורא: והשיב לב אבות על בנים ולב בנים על אבותם פן אבוא והכיתי את הארץ חרם
See, I will send you Eliya the prophet before the great and awesome day of HaShem. And he will return the heart of the fathers (the prophets like Eliyahu) to the sons (the new elders), and the heart of the sons to the fathers. So that I will not come and destroy the world.The sons receive from the fathers. In other words: The olden days are renewed. The sons reach the level of the fathers. But this is not all. The fathers receive from the sons. In other words: What the fathers could not reach themselves, they achieve through the sons. This applies specifically to Eliyahu, and therefore it is he who must come.
"So that I will not come and destroy the world." A priori, the world was to come to its end in the year 5366. The Arizal merited preventing this through his understanding of the Torah that underlies the Zohar. It was revealed to him. He was Zocheh L'Gilui Eliyahu. This was the beginning of a long process. The Arizal was not given the time to organize and publish his knowledge. In fact, he was given only a very short time to teach to his students.
As a result, the work of the Arizal was transmitted to later generations in a very imperfect way. Why did it have to be this way? To establish that the key is not the Arizal, or any other sage. The key is Gilui Eliyahu, revelation. The key is Truth. The key is closeness to HaShem. The key is Yisrael. It is the task of every Jew to try and reach the spiritual level of truth and prophecy.
Eliyahu appoints elders. So that they will teach you. Also you.
